By Clarissa Olson Posted December 7, 2017
The media: you either hate them, or you are them, in which case it is quite likely to do both. Any objective opinion in this case is disappearing at an alarming rate. Why is that? It’s not even because of the depressing news, but rather the people who deliver the news that deter viewers.
The world of professional journalism has built quite a reputation for its unethical practices. People, including our president, even venture to call the media corrupt, and it’s getting harder to disagree. Journalism is about reporting the news and not creating it, but much of the media does so on a level of malpractice that is just wrong, and it needs to end now.
Understandably, there comes a point where you do have to at least question why such a poor quality of journalism exists. One should not be able to compare grown adults to immature children, especially not a 15-year-old, but the media’s behavior bears a shocking resemblance to the petty trifles of teenage drama; it’s all about popularity. Journalists “act out” for attention, in order to make a name for themselves. Seriously, it’s not only hopelessly futile, but childish, unprofessional, and annoying.
It’s been a year since the election of President Donald Trump, and he’s still all we ever hear about. When I turn on the news, it all just sounds like “Mommy, Trump did this!” and “Mom, Trump did that!” That’s great, I know what Trump did, thank you very much. What I don’t know about is what’s being done about children starving on the streets or the newest breakthrough in curing cancer. You know, the stuff that actually matters. We never see any of that, but the media seems perfectly content to bash our country’s leadership. Then all we ever see is who said what about who, and once again, the media is the center of attention.
For example, CNN’s constant coverage of Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. CNN President Jeff Zucker said, “If we made any mistake[s] last year, it’s that we probably did put on too many of his campaign rallies in those early months and let them run.” He continued, “Listen because you never knew what he would say, there was an attraction to put those on air.”
Along with that attraction comes views. Zucker admitted to potentially allowing incorrect coverage to be aired, just to raise CNN’s ratings, like it was supposed to make everything okay. In what world does that make it okay?
Media is a very powerful thing, capable of spreading all the way across the world. While such power can do unfathomable good, it can also do unspeakable damage. Things like bias, spun stories, and fake news, especially in the name of personal gain, are not only entirely inappropriate, and immature, but extremely dangerous and should not be allowed to continue.
