Don’t Shoot the Messenger

By Makenzie Plusnik—

Opinion Editor

Journalism is not easy. News outlets often receive threats, the president encourages this behavior through his campaign against the press and there have been times when the threats have even played out. The Washington Post premiered a commercial during the Super Bowl promoting freedom of the press. Several high school newspapers have been censored by their school districts. It often looks like it is the press against the people.

This is a far cry from what journalism should be. In this current age, we can share information to millions of people through the internet instantly. We can spread knowledge and report the truth as soon as it happens. It may not always be what the public wants to hear, but that is not the journalist’s fault.

As journalists, we are your link to finding out news. We are how you find out the facts behind events happening in the world. We are not a Facebook post, spreading information skewed by our own opinions. As journalists, we take the responsibility and honor of putting our views aside to allow others to know the truth and form their own opinions.

It seems as if we are only the enemy when it comes to politics. When there is a major world event, the world turns to the media to find out what happened. Journalists are the ones putting themselves in the storm, embedded with the military and searching every day for answers that the public deserves to know.

We do not create the news that people do not like. Our responsibility is to report the news. Instead of looking at the media as someone to hate, look at it as source to find information and find a reliable news source that you trust to be unbiased. Viewers definitely need to do their research to make sure the source is credible, because opinion sites will try to masquerade as news, but there are trustworthy companies. And remember, when you don’t like the news you see, do not shoot the messenger.