At the beginning of this month, I was fortunate to meet with the well-known and well-respected journalist, Charles Wiley. Accuracy in Media reports that Wiley has spoken in all 50 states and on six continents, traveling to dozens of colleges every year in order to reflect on the past state of journalism, and comment on the current state journalism. Wiley has been arrested eight times simply for wanting the facts. His curiosity may have gotten him in trouble, but it led to some of the most interesting news. Reporters aren't as willing to do this today.
It is no surprise that the standards of media have dropped in today's society. To Wiley, it seems as though news outlets are suffering from a lack of knowledge of J101 (Journalism 101): the basics. These basic qualities of journalism are being ignored, causing a lack of trust between the public and the media and leading to the disrespect this nation has for the media as an institution. These are just some of the negative trends that Wiley pinpointed during his lecture here at Grove City last week.
There is a lack of objectivity.
Almost every news source comes with a stigma. No matter what your political party, it is difficult to find a source that claims to be neutral or abides by its decision to be neutral. It is either conservative or liberal, and you can expect that everything will be biased according to that agenda. People don't read the news to hear someone's opinion. They expect that in an op-ed section, but when this subjectivity permeates the news itself, there is a direct problem. The public wants the facts without the commentary and bias.
There is no following of the "5Ws."
Often one can read the majority of the way through a piece before understanding the basic information, whereas in the way of the past media, this was the forefront of the piece. One should expect to be able to get the point of the article in the lead and the nut graph: finding out the who, what, where, when, and why. This information should not be submerged in the middle of an article because most people only read the lead and nut graph for these main facts.
No one seems to know the difference between "news" and "non-news."
Journalists today cover things that no one really cares about. Where journalists used to be creative in the way that they covered a typical story by using a new angle or interviewing an outside source, today journalists function with what is easiest to submit by a deadline. That means the variety of pieces are slim, the quality of those pieces is poor, and they are often thrown together with little to no care. Journalists used to invest in what was truly news and to seek that out while journalists today wait for the story to come to them.
Journalists are in love with writing, not with facts.
You may have read this multiple times: what's the problem with journalists being in love with writing? I would agree with Dr. Wiley; there is not a problem with loving to write, but you have to love what you write about. Those who love writing for the sake of writing are meant to be novelists or poets, but those who love writing for the sake of informing should be journalists. A journalist must love facts and have a desire to find those facts before embarking on a story.
As someone who wants to be involved in media, I understand that my profession will not always be respected. I understand why, too. I shake my head at the poor grammar, the poor fact-checking, the lack of interesting news, and the subjective writing that today's media culture has brought about. I'm not proud to say that those people will be my co-workers one day, but I know that there are publications that strive to maintain good standards despite the failing of the field as a whole.
Journalism is a worthy field, and it is central to democracy. It is a way in which the community voices their opinion, and it is meant to be the source they can turn to for reliable information they cannot otherwise attain. I hope that journalists come to acknowledge that they have broken a trust with the public, and I hope that someday I can build trust with the public in the way I work.
I hope that my generation does not further the plummet of journalism but works to rebuild that trust with the public, to present objective news, and to encourage democracy in our country. Journalism is always changing, and it's time for it to start changing for the better.
