Is today's news what it should be?
Is today's news a truthful account of the day's events? Is it a blatant attempt to guide the reader's reaction to keep interests high? Or do entertainment corporations trying to make a profit overrun today's news? Should there be certain standards of journalism in news today? To answer these questions, the reader must understand the definition of news. Jack Fuller best defines news as "a report of what a news organization has recently learned about matters of some significance or interest to the specific community that news organization serves." Journalism in today's news is not the same as it was over half a century ago. The reader can see this in Jim Squires' statement that journalism "even at its worst and most unfair... once had as its goal a quest for accuracy and perspective that would eventually provide truth." Whereas news, itself, is best defined best defined by the Hutchinson Commission on freedom of the pres in 1947 as a "truthful, comprehensive, and intelligent account of the day's events in a context which gives them meaning." So what has happened to journalism today? Journalism no longer seeks accuracy and fairness. There are many fallacies in the basis of today's journalism. Journalism today has the tendency to
The above-mentioned examples clearly show how journalism no longer seeks accuracy and fairness. The reader should be able to form his/her own opinion regarding news. The audience should not be persuaded to have one view or another based on the lack of background information given, the bias in a writer's own opinion, or in the interests of big business. News should not be any of these things. Another example that shows journalism no longer seeking accuracy and fairness is the bias in today's news. Journalism is biased towards the interests of the reader. This bias causes the writer to record more negative events, such as someone's tragic death, as opposed to something more positive, like a marriage or birth of a child. Readers in today's society are more interested in death and destruction than the more positive sides of life. Journalism is also biased towards the writer's own opinion. This lets the writer sway the audience to feel the same way as he/she feels on the topic. An example of this would be the Rodney King issue. If the writer has a traditionally racist background, he/she probably agrees with the police action taken against Mr. King. This might sway the audience to feel the same way as the writer. One final example of the shortcomings in today's news is the intervention of "Big Business". Major corporations in the entertainment business own many publications. One such publication is the New York Times, which is owned by Time Warner. Time Warner is an elite figure in the entertainment industry. Time Warner also owns the cable network TNN. TNN airs a show called Monday Night Raw, which
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Approximate Word count = 1085
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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