Dear News Sources: Just Tell Me The Facts

I never really cared for journalism until I came to college. I started writing for my school's newspaper, and I really loved it. I was able to give voices to people and tell stories that otherwise would not have been told. I went to interesting events and met some amazing people along the way.

I thought I had found what I wanted to do with my life. I was going to be a reporter. I knew that the newspaper industry was dying, but online journalism was big, and I could settle for that. I threw myself fully into the school's paper and furiously applied for journalism internships, even landing one with the paper in my school's town.

My school's paper has certain style rules that help ensure we stay objective. I'm sure there are ways to skew things one way or the other, but these rules make it hard. We can't editorialize at all. We can only say "[Person] said" because any other word might be editorializing the way in which this person said their quote, and it could change the meaning of the quote. Even when we are paraphrasing, we can't deviate from what the person said or add anything to describe the person. It doesn't make for the prettiest writing, but people can't just spin certain stories to adhere with their views and beliefs.

Over the years, and especially during this last election season, I've seen the decline of journalism. There are instances of such poor reporting or such blatant editorializing that I can't believe people ever saw it and thought, "Yes! This. This is what we NEED to print."

I expect this from the biased news sources, but now, even the supposedly "objective" news sources have started doing it. Sometimes, it's just a small detail that shapes how the person reads it. Even when the detail isn't a big deal and is actually true, it does slip into editorializing and compromises the objectivity of the reporter and the news source.

Honestly, most news sources have become nothing better than tabloids and gossip magazines. Instead of telling me the facts, these sources want to add their opinions, or even stray from the important information and tell me about the people themselves.

Guess what? I don't care what Melania Trump looked like at any event. I don't care about most things being reported anymore.

News needs to be just that: news. Tell me the facts. Tell me what happened. I don't need the fluff. Let me form my own opinions.