Farhad Manjoo...a man of many words. A man who made me realize what this world has become. Manjoo's intellectual vocalization of today's media, and the people who fall for it, opened my eyes to a new way of absorbing news. I wake up in the morning and it is second nature to turn on the news. I am now skeptical to the channel I turn on, along with all the others I watch throughout the day.
This country has turned into absolute partisanship. We are anything but The United States of America, we are more like The Divided States of America. The left versus the right has become news. It is the only thing media is based on nowadays. We are so obsessed with what the other party did wrong. Maybe I have just noticed because I am old enough to, but since the 2008 Presidential Election, media have gone awry.
It has become an annoyance to turn on the news or open up a newspaper without hearing opinion-based coverage. Yet, we still fall for it. We are so inundated with our own parties that we do not even realize how biased we are being. As a news consumer and aspiring journalist, I have taken in the didactic nature of this book and learned everything Manjoo taught me.
True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society showed me to view news more carefully. Just about everyone in the media has their own views and they are well known. We have morphed from fact based to opinion-based news. Will the day ever come when it returns to fact based? How, when and why did it become opinion based? How do we know where to draw the line between fact and opinion?
I found myself asking all those questions while reading. I couldn’t help to think how we believe these are credible news sources. It seems as if it is a circus that should be made fun of.
Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart made their millions by satirizing the media. They both portray their own versions of political-driven media shows. With the recent surge in political rallies, both these satirists decided to do one of their own. They held the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, DC on October 30th of this year.
About 215,000 people showed up to express their dislike for the previous rallies, political extremists and the media.
It's true, opinion-based media is laughable. It is easily made fun of because that is the best way to deal with this monstrous media. Well, we know at least two-hundred thousand people believe the news is something to make fun of. Most people in this country are so inundated with their own beliefs, they do not even realize how biased their go-to media can be. People will only hear what they want to hear and believe what they want to believe. When will this ever change? Will it ever change? I sure hope so.
In a world where journalists are no longer deemed credible, I hope some people can still give fact-based news. It truly is sad to read a ticker that says "hundreds killed in volcano" when the live and more in-depth coverage is about Sarah Palin's new reality television show. As a society, we no longer accept hard news. We accept the dramatic events between political parties as news, as well as entertainment. And it is solely what our media is based on.
Although I do believe politics and government are a major part of this country and should be covered, I also believe the ratings weigh too much on the partisanship and not enough on the real issues. We need to focus on the global and environmental issues that we are faced with every day. The social issues are what grab the attention of so many, and the media thrive on that. During the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster, the media focused on how President Obama handled the situation more than they focused on the natural damage this caused. That is just one example of how we are almost obsessed with the politics of things.
As a class, we are entering the real world, the world of journalism, with skeptical viewers and little credibility. Many of us choose this career path because we want to make a difference in the world. But how can you make a difference when no one believes you?
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