What's wrong with reporters and journalists today? Is it possible for press and media to sink any lower? Where's the ethics? What about doing the proper research before airing/publishing news? Apparently money is everything, and the methods used to get the bigger ratings are frankly astonishing.
Today I read a little news nugget about an astronaut who, if you believe the (sub)header, managed to defy physical laws of space. It states that an astronaut threw a boomerang into space (yes subzero-temperature, no-air, no-gravity space) and it came back to him. Obviously this is impossible, because stuff thrown in space will just continue in that very direction, untill influenced by other forces (like the gravity of another planet or a black hole, or the tractor beam on Enterprise or whatever). But the article states that the astronaut hurled the boomerang into space, and with the article is a picture of a standard, wooden boomerang.
After googling just a little bit, it becomes clear that it was a tiny paper-boomerang, and he threw it INSIDE the ISS, where there's air and thus something for the boomerang to actually work with.
- granted this is not what you would call very important information, but if you bring news, make sure you got it right.
There's also been a case recently, where a danish journalist who was stationed in the middle east came home with some footage, and ended up editing in some older footage, taking it out of it's original footage, and with his presentation putting it into another, and very wrong, context.
And last night I heard a teaser for a local tv-network where they introduced some of their top presenters, and especially one of them caught my attention. He said that his utmost important task, was to make the news exiting for the viewers. Make the news exciting? No - you're supposed to depict the events as they happened. There's no need to add whizz and bang to the news. You're performing a public service - and it is NOT up to you, to faff about with facts, fiction and speculation! Just bring the damn news. News are not meant to be exciting - they're meant to be informative, and they're meant for people to base their oppinions on and make decissions from. So don't fucking twist the facts about!
Finally - when there's an election nearing and all the media circus start rolling, why the hell can't the hosts of political debate shows keep their damned oppinions to themselves? What is the point of asking one party all the "right" questions making them look good, and the other party gets all the wrong questions, and even if they answer them, the host just asks the same question over and over again, formulated in different ways, in order to get the answer he/she wants? Where the hell is the journalism in that? Those people should be fired. Instantly. They're abusing a powerfull position, and should not be trusted with responsabilities like that. Ever again.
You must understand, that even in civilized societies, there are people who don't possess the ability to question the info they're presented with. People who believe almost everything they hear. And these people still have the right to vote, and they have to base other important decissions on the info they're subjected to.
I realise that it costs money to run a tv network, and money is nice - but lots of great things can be said about integrity, honesty, reliability and being impartial. Especially when you have such a big option to influence so many people.
- So here's a raised finger at the dubious journalists of today: you can HAVE to do better. Live up to your responsabilities. Pullitzers don't go to liars!
