I do believe journalists should report the truth,
and solely that. Unfortunately, journalists nowadays treat the public as
children, where making the public happy or pleased is the only goal in mind. Saying
the tough stuff and reporting the stories that the public will have a hard time
swallowing is a rare occurrence in modern day journalism. Rather, water-downed
stories, where the significant and painful details are softened around the
edges seem to crop up on every broadcasts and news columns. Journalists are
behaving as the stereotypical parents that are afraid of their children being
unhappy with them, or just unhappy in general. This then drives the parent or
journalist to sugarcoat things and avoid addressing the real situation at hand.
I feel like the purpose of journalism or the
understanding of the purpose of journalism has become swayed overtime. It seems
as though journalism is no longer trying to report news and provide the public
with truth and information; rather, journalism has become a mode of offering
the public what it wants to hear. This transformation of the fundamental
understanding of the purpose of journalism has enhanced and increased the
number of readers and viewers, yet diminished the amount of quality,
hard-factual news—the tough medicine good parents and journalists realize is
what children and the public actually need. The spoon-fed stories can only go
so far as to please, yet the raw, unaltered stories update the public on what
they need to know.
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