Do we need journalism?
James Madison Jr. was a Founding Father of the United States of America. He also served as the fourth president of the USA. Madison said, "A well-informed citizenry is necessary for a democracy."
I say that a well-informed public is the foundation of democracy.
The importance of news is measured by the public, not by journalists. After personal research among friends, I found that few cared about journalism and few trusted what journalists created. This shocked me. These same people glue themselves to the news every night in front of the TV. I wondered if it was because they wanted to be informed about what was happening in the world or they wanted to be entertained as they ate their dinner. I have not found the answer to that, but it seems it is more about entertainment than news.
Like most things in the world, people only care about a matter when it directly affects them. However, when it does affect them, the problem is out of their reach because they have let it slip by through not being concerned or informed. Then they scream at the TV, like me.
Journalism has changed so much since the internet that I am not sure what journalism is anymore. Is it hard news from an established and trusted source? Is it blogs, Twitter tweets, Facebook posts or is it simply an image on Instagram?
The need to define things like journalism, music styles and movie categories have basically gone since the year 2000. But journalist scream from the rafters that journalism is still important and necessary, even when no one can define what journalism is anymore. It seems that good journalism and bad journalism are both slopped into the same bucket today.
When someone shouts fake news when a journalist points out their mistakes, and this person is in power, people become blinkered and say, yeah, all news is fake unless the person that I follow tells me whether it is fake or not. So journalism loses.
The trust that has been built up over hundreds of years in journalism is now gone because of people shouting fake news. How did we get to be so gullible and ignorant that we let a few people decide what is right and wrong for us? But this is the case. How do we combat this?
How can journalism make its point if it has been branded untrue even before stories are written?
We have to take ownership of our education and not let anyone tell us what is right or wrong without the facts. And that's what good journalism is about. Facts are more important than views, editorials or opinions.
News people need to report only facts. There is no such thing as and there never will be a post-truth world. Truth is permanent and it cannot be altered unless you let it be. When you stop believing in yourself and start believing in others without the facts, because it's easier, you have let yourself and the world down.
Do we need journalism? If you want to be cheated of your rights, you don't need journalism. If you want views and not news, you don't need journalism. If it's alright that crime and corruption flourish underneath our society, we don't need journalism. If you want to be lied to and in the end wind up feeling like you've been robbed of your rights, dignity and your livelihood while others get rich by not paying you a fair wage, you don't need journalism.
July 5, 2019.
