Journalism is Dead

Cameron Smale, Editor

Just a few years back, news channels were something that people could turn to in order to find out what was going on in the world. The days where the news was honest and informational are long gone. The only things I see on news channels anymore are politics on one side or the other. It is very rare to find a source that will publish a non-biased, down-the-middle story; which happens to be a really big problem.

It’s weird flipping through the different news channels, covering the same event, and seeing a variety of opinionated headlines. Us viewers only have so much time in our days to watch the news which means we will probably only watch one source. It confuses me when a reporter tells listeners certain details, but leaves out anything that might refute their political agenda.

To put in into perspective, looking at the whole immigration subject, one source will say, “these immigrants are fighting for their rights!” Another news source would say, “we can’t afford to take in this many people.” Why can’t they just tell us the straight facts and let us decide what we think? At least give us both sides of an argument. News channels are just turning into businesses, catering to whatever the popular opinion is. Views mean money; when they don’t get views, they don’t make as much money. What happened to trustworthy sources? Although it can be argued that they need money to stay on air, news channels should never be biased towards on thing or the other. It’s immoral and shows corruption.

The one thing that convinced me journalism really was dead is how people are interviewed. When interviewing a person, their statements should never be edited out of context. And furthermore, if a person has a good point with credible evidence, editing out that point is unethical and makes viewers question the credibility of a news source. And what bothers me is that people really trust these journalists.

do understand that news sources have opinionated talk shows; those are completely fine. The main issue is when news channels turn a blind eye on events that oppose the popular public opinion. They should just be informing us on the current happenings. If something interesting is happening, inform the viewers. Don’t try to turn it into something political; we just want the facts.