Classical Journalism Is Gone

Back in 2002, in my senior year of college, an instructor for my final journalism class literarily told us that she got her news from “The Daily Show.” Let that sink in, a person tasked with guiding those who would be the future of the news industry got her information from a late-night comedy show.

Fast forward more than two decades, and we are now in a world where 39% of people under 30 say they get their news from TikTok!

While these situations are disturbing and rife for passing along inaccurate and falsified information, it speaks to another problem that is arguably of at least the same significance. That is the deterioration of the traditional and mainstream news industry. And at this point, I doubt it can ever be restored.

Trust in media among Americans is at an all-time low of around 31%. And the sad fact is that this is for good reason. With repeated scandals like that of CNN’s reporting about Nick Sandmann and the very recent issue of CBS deceptively editing answers given by Vice President Kamala Harris in a “60 Minutes” interview, it’s hard to blame people.

It used to be that news stations and newspapers were trusted to provide factual information without bias outside of the editorial pages. Today, most people take almost everything they read or hear with a sense of skepticism that has been earned by the shady behavior of the press. In some ways, the original purpose of journalism was to be a public service. It had devolved over decades to be primarily a business. As a business, it is focused on making money and thus beholden to advertisers and what they want to be presented. The traditional media then tailors its coverage to what they suspect their audience will want rather than to fact and truth. Opinion and spin lead the way.

As someone who worked both as an amateur (college newspaper and magazine) and professional in this field, I can tell you that so many of the basic rules of journalism have been tossed to the side like a food wrapper to a trash can. For example, if we had quoted “anonymous sources” as the only source for a story back in journalism school, it would have earned a failing grade every time.

So, now that the old guard of media is essentially irrelevant, what are we supposed to do now? That is a question that is being worked out in an organic fashion as we speak and will probably be an ongoing process for years to come. Basically, we do not have a clear-cut answer at this time.

Many are turning to alternative media and new media sources such as online news outlets and podcasts, citizen journalism if you will. The good here is that in most cases, these people are not beholden to any specific companies or business interests and can be freer about what they report. The bad is that they can generate a lot of conspiracy theories and outright deception.

And when it comes to the Internet, how are we supposed to trust the search results provided by companies that have a vested interest in specific political policies or practices? The sad fact is that we can’t.

Honestly, I’m not sure what the future of journalism holds, but I know one thing that will go a long way: accountability. If the consumer of media and news forces the media to be accountable for what they present, that will do a lot to fix the issue.

To my knowledge, there is no search engine out there that is exclusively for news. If one could be created that would go through a process of vetting any organization or individual providing news to ensure credibility in their search results, this would be a big step in the right direction. And perhaps if they were to allow editorial content, it would be clearly marked as such.

All I know is that journalism as we knew it is over, and now we have to hope something that replaces it is an improvement. As for me personally, I’m optimistic about this because I am optimistic that citizens will demand it.