Journalism Today
Journalism has been around for an extensive period of time. It has been an extremely important tool since its’ insurgence. The definition of journalism is the activity or profession of writing for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or preparing news to be broadcast.
It is reporting on what’s happening in the world. Whether it be local or global there are current events happening. There is never not a story going on. Something always needs to be covered and there is a lot that journalism does for the world.
Covering the most important news topics can save lives. There can be a war about to outbreak and the first place you here is from is through journalism. Journalists get the information about any urgent news going on and they put the details in the news they write. For example, we are in the middle of a pandemic right now and we found out through the media. We check and listen for any updates about the current situation on Covid-19 and act accordingly from the information given. The media is an important asset in getting our information.
The “Spotlight” documentary was a great example of how to use the media to benefit society. The film showed that there were hundreds of cases of priests molesting children in the church. The problem was that there were cover ups going on. The information wasn’t getting out there because of corruption until a group of journalists saw what had been happening and wrote to get the story published. They interviewed victims and some of the accused and saw that there were a lot of people who knew and didn’t say anything about it. They even realized the story had been brought to them before but wasn’t taken as seriously as it should have been. When this broke out the first people hearing about it were the ones paying attention to the media. None of this could have been brought out if the media didn’t publish it.
“The Panama Papers” is an even better example of showing how useful the media can be. This documentary was about all the corruption that was amongst the people in power. Government officials, world leaders, celebrities, a lot of these people with high profiles had been dealing in scandals. The people in question were those who are well-known by the public. These celebrities and government officials were putting money in an offshore account in an effort to avoid taxes. Also there were those who were money laundering which was even more illegal than offshore banking. This news was brought to a journalist by a person going by the alias “John Doe.” This person wanted to bring the corruption to light. They wanted to expose every person of higher power and let them know that they are not above the law.
Once this was brought to everyone’s attention the story spread and people started asking questions and wondering if it was happening where they live as well. Something this crucial had to be brought to public attention. The level of importance couldn’t be kept silent for any longer. The media is what helped bring this to the light. It is one of the most important tools in society today and if there’s anything of value we need to know the media is sure to tell us.
