The Newsy Reality (For Class)

Why is it that our news seems to be so bombastic in their declarations of possible evil. Instead of news, we get entertainment. When we should be hearing about the war, about natural disasters, about heinous murders and about things that would naturally affect the audience, we get something different. We get sex scandals, high school food menus, and empty sidewalks of places where there was a protest. Instead of getting information that might affect us, we get assaulted by a sitcom, where everything is for the most part, about nothing.

I remember my journalism classes. We were taught that the news organization was built to safeguard the public from the possible abuses of the government, and to provide information that would directly relevant to the reader. In the earlier times, the newspaper would be picked up because the information in it was essential. If the reader did not know that there was a dangerous killer in the area, people would not be safe. If they did not know that a possible financial bust might be in the future, they would continue to spend on frivolous things. If they were unaware that corporations were the driving force behind stopping health care reform, they might decide against supporting something that would ultimately help them. Without such information, the reader has very little reason to consider the news organizations important.

As such information became less and less a part of the news, the news programs had to make their shows more and more like an entertainment show. Now, in the extreme, we hear so much about how the latest celebrity dresses, or about the newest diet drug. We hear very little information that only a dedicated journalist could provide.

This is more important that the average person would believe. It not only affects the way a single person acts, but also the way in which the country acts as a whole. Without that essential information about the true motives of the law makers and the politicians, as well as information on why certain laws are being passed, a democracy cannot function. It will inevitably become an aristocracy, with the people in power creating laws that are detrimental to the public on a whim. Without such information, the United states will cease to be a democracy, and become an oligarchy, ruled by those with the money to pay for air time, with a public distracted from their declining way of life by sound bites. It is paramount that people demand that their news act in their best interest.

Ironically, it is the internet that is bringing the news back into order. A place where information runs free, corporations cannot hide the information behind a wall of trivia. With the internet, the truth cannot be held back, as someone will inevitably post it, sometimes even from outside of the America. It is ironic, that the wild west of the information would is bringing order to a country that is slowly losing its grip on freedom. It is therefore, paramount, that the public be educated in the use of the internet as a source of information.