Journalism in Today's World

In 2002, I graduated from college with a degree in journalism and mass communication. The school I attended has a solid program with a pretty good reputation. My class was one of the first to really dive into the territory of what we were then calling new media. Basically, that was writing and generating news for a web-based audience. I spent my entire time in college writing for the school newspaper and also did some work for the news magazine and interned at the major newspaper in our town. After graduating, I spent a few years working on a freelance basis for a community paper.

Based on the experiences that I have had and witnessing what I read and hear today, I am saddened by the state of what once was a proud and admirable industry.

Some may blame the Internet, others may blame desperate attempts to bolster subscription rates with sensationalism, but whatever the case may be, the trustworthiness of this field has fallen drastically in a very short period of time.

Arguably the biggest problem today is that news outlets do not seem to distinguish news from opinion. Sure, columnists and their radio and television equivalents have a place in the industry. But, that place is not the front page or lead story.

News has devolved from telling the facts to adding our two-cents and injecting some level of opinion into nearly everything. I see and hear this every day. Take for example a recent headline in a major American newspaper regarding the coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team. It reads "Ohio State drops the ball on Meyer" and presents a column about the suspension of Urban Meyer for three games as a penalty for his part in a domestic violence case. The problem is, this should not be on the front page because it's not news but opinion. Another publication that has been around for decades recently released a cover with a drawing of the president of the United States struggling to stay above water in a flooded Oval Office. The words on the page simply read "In Deep" and nothing else. Again, purely opinion and nothing more. Poor practice for a news publication.

The trustworthiness of the industry has been on a rapid decline. And according to recent polling by Gallup, 62 percent of Americans think that there is a blatant bias and inaccuracy in the news.

Once reliable news sources are now little more than tabloids and hold about the same journalistic worth as a piece of toilet tissue.

The problem is simple to identify but will likely be a challenge to fix. That is if a fix is even possible at this point.

Opinion and news have to be completely separated from each other. If an article, television report or radio broadcast is opinion, it should be clearly identified as such. If it is news, no opinion should enter the content. Like I said, simple to say but not so easy to do.

I can assure you with 100% confidence that if I were to write a news story on any topic at all, you would not be able to infer my personal feelings on the issue. That's what journalism is supposed to be about and what it has lost.

I reiterate that opinion has a place in newspapers and other media. However, anyone who tries to consistently pass off opinion as news is both lazy and a disgrace to his or her profession.

Editors, I implore you, get it together or this wilting industry won't have any relevance for much longer. Get a grip on this problem now!