I’m sick of being lied to.
Or rather, I’m tired of getting half the story.
One of the latest scandals to hit the White House is over “Jeff Gannon”, the supposed journalist who sat in during press conferences to ask politically biased questions that served to venerate President Bush.
To be honest, I’m not shocked that this was going on. My faith in politics is gone, but I still believe in reporting, and that is what gets me.
My real disappointment is in the pack of professional journalists that “Gannon”, really named James D. Guckert, sat along side.
They should have known that something was up with this guy. It took the watchful eye of fake news show “The Daily Show” to notice that “Jeff Gannon” was himself a fake.
One thing young journalists are taught is to look for things that don’t quite fit in any situation. They are to try to find the telltale signs that something odd is going on. Sometimes the feeling goes nowhere, but journalists are always supposed to check.
This time that did not happen, and it seems like the latest in a long line of media failures.
The most recent media letdown to bother me personally centers on Jayson Blair, the young African American writer who fabricated and plagiarized information while working for the New York Times. Blair blamed race and pressure, and various other things for the breakdown of his journalistic ethics. Blair’s actions angered me as a reporter as well as a female minority member.
As sick as it was, there seemed to be a resurgence in the need for good basic reporting. There was a need for the truth. But that happened in spring 2003, and yet here we are facing another breech.
There are certain principles in journalism that are supposed to be unshakeable. Although newsprint, broadcast and radio are all different fields, public perception groups them together as one “media.” The failure of one news source is hurting the integrity of all.
Reporters are right up there with lawyers in terms of popularity. They are nosy and have a tendency to ask uncomfortable questions, to air dirty laundry. All of my friends in BC’s Student Government Association ask me, “This is off the record, right?” and I’m proud of that. I am a reporter first and a friend second. The truth is the bottom line.
Reporters are supposed to find out the facts and report them objectively. They are never to take an answer at face value, they must quadruple-check what they have been told. Credibility is paramount. This is how it should be, but that is not how things stand today.
No matter how jaded I become I know that I am not the only person who wishes people could trust what they read in print. Colleges are centers for a new generation with fresh ideas. The information we are being given isn’t necessarily true. That can change.
Make sure you’re not being fed what some politician wants you to think. Call reporters on bogus information. If enough people pay attention, journalistic integrity isn’t a lost cause.