What happened to the truth?

A demand exists for unbiased, fact-based journalism.

True journalism is sharing a story that needs to be told regardless of one’s opinion, and in modern media that is not always the case. Nowadays the media is flooded with people sharing their opinions, and this can be problematic because many take opinions to be fact.

The need for fact-based journalism is especially prevalent in the current global pandemic that the United States is fighting.

The situation created by the coronavirus is incredibly fluid, and new information is constantly being found out. For example, at the beginning of the pandemic scientists believed animals could not contract the disease, and now it has been discovered that they can.

COVID-19 is a difficult crisis to stay up to date with, and when people who are not medical professionals post what they think will cure the disease on Facebook, more and more people become confused.

The American public can hardly be blamed for distrusting the coronavirus information they are given because they feel lied to about the pandemic and news in general.

Many American journalists risk their lives to tell pressing stories, but America still needs more journalists to step up and publish the truth so people can be informed and protected.

Some politicians and powerful figures encourage the distrust of the media, and when certain news agencies discredit themselves by posting biased content the powerful can control the narrative.

The American public is smart, and they can tell when they are being told a story with spin to it.

For a nation with such a rich history of journalists speaking truths to the public, a void currently exists.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein risked their necks to expose the Watergate Scandal, and the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team unearthed the heinous acts of the papacy molesting young boys.

These were momentous stories that rocked the American public, and that kind of journalism is needed now.

Imagine if the Watergate Scandal happened today. Most of Republican America would ignore the story and claim the publication is liberally biased anyways. The same concept applies to the Boston Catholic Church scandal. A publication cannot take down a powerful figure like the Pope if it has few people that will believe them.

News agencies should hunt for the truth regardless of their political views instead of spinning stories to be liberal or conservative.

Like all relationships, they do not work without trust. The American audience must trust the media for important stories to be told, and the media must work harder for their trust.

According to a poll conducted by Gallop in September of 2019, only 41 percent of the American public trusted the media. Amidst the coronavirus outbreak the number has increased to 44 percent, but the media is still ranked lowest on institutions that the American public trusts.

When so much of the public distrusts the media, important stories are ignored.

America wants more real journalism, and no one can blame the public for wanting that.