Can We Really Trust The News Media?
Can the people of the United States of America trust their modern news media? Since
early colonial days, various forms of news coverage have existed in this country. And for many years now, the reliability of the information delivered by the media has been heavily scrutinized. It seems that this issue is becoming more and more significant in the 21st Century. Ronald Roach, executive editor of DiverseEducation.com and Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine, notes that “more than ever, the American news media are under public scrutiny for the way individual reporters conduct themselves, for how news coverage on major events is carried out and for the balance media organizations purport their news coverage to have” (Roach). Is the media a reliable source of news for the American people? No. The modern media is not a trustworthy source of news and information. Three key for this lack of credibility reasons are as follows: Many in the media industry are more concerned about profit than facts, the modern media usually attempts to cover up their errors, and the media possesses a long track record of misrepresenting and falsifying the facts. We will now proceed to examine these three reasons a greater detail.
First, today’s news media is not an accurate source of news because many in the media
are more concerned about profit than they are about the actual facts. It seems that the news media, along with politicians and others, is becoming less and less concerned about ethical standards, and more dedicated to how much money and power they can obtain. A writer for Issues and Controversies points out that, “the press's need to attract viewers and readers, and thereby ...
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...ntly, and only after his pension was safe. Sunde discerns that “in his belated statement of resignation, Gartner did not seem fully cognizant of the enormity of his role in the near self-destruction of his once trusted and respected news organization, saying only that he hoped his leaving would ‘take the spotlight off of all of us and enable us to concentrate fully on our business’” (Rob Sunde).
Works Cited
"Media Bias." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File
News Services, 28 Dec. 2009. Web. 3 May 2012.
Roach, Ronald. Black Issues in Higher Education. 21.11 (July 15, 2004): p20. From General
OneFile. Web. May 3.
Sunde, Rob. The Quill. 81.3 (Apr. 1993): p10. From General OneFile. Web. May 3.
Stoff, Rick. St. Louis Journalism Review. 35.278 (July-August 2005): p11. From General
OneFile. Web. May 3.
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