UNITED STATES—The media arena is apart of our daily lives. Whether we’re watching television, reading the newspaper, using the Internet or talking to people, the media is an integral part of our lives. As a journalist, some ask me time and time again do you ever get tired of the news. It’s a difficult question to answer, but at times yes.
News has a way of engulfing one’s personal space, their life, their mental thoughts. Repeated exposure to the same story or a particular party exposed in the media is painful. Who wants to hear about Chris Brown, Lindsay Lohan, a murder suspect or corrupt politician daily? No one.
The problem is when it comes to the news, whatever one thinks will sell will continue to be sold to the viewers. It presents a stigma, an unwavering image about that public figure that cannot be shaken. Once a bias is formed, rarely does that bias dissipate. Even after a number of years, as a reader of the news you always retort back to that one incident that defined that individual.
Why is it when we watch or read the news we never get a variety of things. Just take a look at the cover story for the newspaper that you read on a daily basis or each week; it’ll always be something that grabs your attention, but what about the rest of the paper? What other stories are we missing to enlighten our day or to educate us about a particular phenomenon?
Probably quite a bit because let’s face it we’re all choosy readers. We like certain images or certain taglines that grab our attention. When we decide to read the article or story further we realize it’s a load of crap, but too late the website, the news station or the paper has already gotten us to do what they wanted: we paid attention. News is not supposed to be entertaining, it’s expected to be informative and educational.
Yellow journalism is massive in today’s media arena. It is what journalism currently is. There is little to no integrity in the pieces, just a bunch of crap thrown to the reader in hopes that they will buy into what is being sold. I wonder if those newspapers, magazines, TV stations have a conscience? Do they sleep well at night knowing the inflammatory crap they are pushing to the American public?
I’ve reached a point like so many Americans where I am over the news arena: I don’t care anymore. As much as I want to be informed about the news I don’t want to be TOLD about it. Hence the key word TOLD. Stop telling me what you want me to know or think, tell me the truth. Where is the nation economically, how is the murder rate in the city that I live in, what new laws are attempting to be passed in my legislative state and on the federal level?
The truth is harsh, and so many people are not willing to tackle it out of fear of ostracizing a particular party that pays the bill. What’s that saying in politics: pay to play? It seems that same ideology is taking the forefront in the media. And it indeed is becoming a sad, sad day for the journalism field.
By Trevor Roberts
