Don’t Be Fooled Again by Corrupt Journalism

Way back in the days when everybody had a flip phone and AOL Instant Messenger was a big communication tool, I got my degree in journalism. Fast forward a couple of decades, and today I couldn’t be more ashamed of the state of this once noble profession. It has become a shadow of what it once was and a complete joke.

I was taught and believed that journalism was about presenting both sides of the story and not taking on one or the other. In short, it was supposed to be the duty of a journalist to inform, not to persuade. 

Of course, there have always been commentators and editorialists, but those people would make that distinction known and not try to pass themselves off as hard news reporters. Today, it feels like the vast majority of “news” is either intentionally slanted or opinion-based. And nobody is making any effort whatsoever to distinguish between what is news and what is just griping or propaganda.

Sadly, what should have been rather obvious came to light in a big way after the first presidential debate of 2024. All of a sudden, news outlets started covering the mental decline of President Joe Biden as if it came out of nowhere. The reporters seemed as if they were shocked about his state. In reality, anyone who was paying even the slightest bit of attention realized it years ago. This was nothing new or surprising. The only thing that was new about it was how the media finally started to acknowledge it, perhaps as if they had known for quite some time but simply steered clear of such coverage.

Now, only a few weeks later, we see major and supposedly reputable media outlets literally attempting to rewrite history in regard to the presumptive Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Media outlets are literally removing content from their websites that could have been seen as critical or shedding a negative light on Harris in some way. Thankfully, we have the Internet, and through the magic of such tools as screenshots, it is possible for people to preserve this content despite the best efforts of dishonest so-called journalists to hide it from the public.

Some media companies are even “fact-checking” their own reporting or claiming that they never reported the information that they did. It is sad and shameful.

This is truly the stuff you might expect from a country with no freedom of the press and news organizations represented only by state-run media that tells you only what they want you to see and hear. It’s scary, and it’s not right. Sadly, some people, especially under the age of 30, are disturbingly turning to social media as their primary source of news. That rate was at a shocking 50% in 2022!

The only good thing is that at least some people are starting to catch on to the charade. In 2023, it was indicated that 40% of Americans lack trust in the media, saying they have “no confidence” in it. Just 20 years earlier, just barely after my year of graduation from college, the number was only 10%. But even at that, there are still approximately 32% who have a great deal of trust in the media, and quite frankly, they need to wake up.

We as a nation simply cannot allow ourselves to be fooled yet again by a dishonest media. This shirking of professional responsibility is not just annoying but flat out dangerous and can lead to very harmful consequences, like the influencing of election outcomes. We must demand accountability and fair and accurate reporting. When we let this sort of news coverage control our opinions and viewpoints, we all lose.