Disturbing "Journalism"

   When one goes through the checkouts at a supermarket, one can't always help but noticing and reading the headlines on the tabloids.  I personally make a point of it: not because I care, but because it is fun to mock the headlines.  "Inside so-and-so's secret hideaway," it might read, which is ridiculous, as the publishing makes it clearly not secret.

   There are other over-the-top, uber-dramatic lines that amuse me, but yesterday I saw something that simultaneously amused me and angered me.  The headline across Globe magazine's front page read "It's official: Dying Queen makes William King."  It's true!  Except the official part.  And the dying part.  And that William is first in line, that's not true... and no one else has been made king.  But other than that, everything is true.  So yes, the whole front page story was a lie.  This disgusts me.  Why do magazine's have to lie to create stories?  There's so much going on in the world that surely they could report on something real.

   But even reporting on the truth might not be enough.  Amber Lyon, an Emmy-award winning journalist recently blew the whistle on CNN's selective reporting on Iranian President Ahmadinejad's speech, which seemed to be an effort to invoke conflict between the states and Iran.  CNN didn't put words in his mouth: rather, they just cut it up and only showed pieces of it.

   The sad fact is therefore that no news media can really be depended on for the truth of the story.  Instead, every person must look for a multitude of information from a wealth of sites on their own.  But who is going to do that?  How many people have enough time, sense, or empathy to actually spend their time looking for the truth.  The sad fact is that right now, many Americans probably believe, no matter what I or anyone else may say, that William is King of England.