The Slow Demise of Journalism

How the journalistic pursuit of truth has been overshadowed by the need for 'news'

We’ve all heard of them…those figureheads of the news who relentlessly pursued the scandalous truth, risking career and popularity to expose political corruption.

The nameless hero in the realm of journalism; the one who spends countless nights hunched over a small worn desk, encamped amidst the precarious strata of a miniature grand canyon of notes, books, and sources.

The hero who uncovered the truth that everyone else was willing to turn a blind eye to; the one whose tenacious chase of fact overcame the politics and coercion of news corporations.

This hero has one thing in mind: the pursuit of truth…not the pursuit of news.

And there is a subtle difference.

News sells…Fear sells…but journalists are not sales-reps.

Journalism is the pursuit of truth, and when this noble and foundational mission is abandoned in favour of the pursuit of success or financial gain or reader approval ratings, the journalistic cause is left a mere remnant of yesteryear.

The job description of journalists is not to create ear-tickling shallow content for the public: the journalists reveal truth and scandal, and how the public decides to react to that is up to them.

The sad truth is that true journalism has been swamped in a mire of clickbait, blog-style content that is easy to produce and easy to consume; that has lost its ability to persuade, challenge and wholesomely disrupt the course of public opinion.

The depth that once defined prominent news publications has slowly been eroded by the gentle waves of shallow online news.

This is an erosion that this generation cannot allow to continue.

But in order to stop erosion, one must first understand the factors that have caused that erosion to occur.

Over the past few years, the Western public’s trust in the news media has been steadily and dramatically declining.

Echoing this trend, a 2021 report by Dr Merja Myllylahti and Dr Greg Treadwell revealed that fewer than half of the New Zealand public actually trusts the news.

This distrust had increased by 5% since 2020 and is certainly showing no signs of slowing down.

This declining trust is undoubtedly due largely to the increasing bias of the media.

Although no publication can lay claim to ‘total unbiased truth’, there are clearly tainted publications and then there are those that actively leave personal opinions at home, and are willing to pursue the hard truth regardless of the possible consequences for their presuppositions.

This is the essence of news reporting: digging to the harsh depths of human nature and the events evolving around us, and then submitting those findings for the public to analyse, discuss, and further understand.

A failure to acknowledge mistakes, and a starkly proven inability to hold the government to account by challenging their decisions and information, have played a crucial role in accelerating this distrust of the media.

Journalists, the kind that challenges everything (including their own presuppositions) are what may save the day for the news agencies.

What we need is hard news, tenacious journalists, and a distrust of the government (regardless of who is in power).

Distrust prompts research, and we as news reporters are responsible for serving the public by discovering the truth and presenting it fairly and thoroughly.

The only way to rebuild the trust that the news media has lost is by returning to the original purpose of journalism, and this needs to start with holding the government to account.

The news media are there to answer and pursue the public’s questions and concerns, not to silence them by a meaningless repetition of politically correct sentiments.

Just as the governing authorities are public servants elected to serve the public good, so the news media are public guardians responsible for protecting the public’s access to the whole truth.

Bring back accurate journalism, bring back a love for the truth, and bring back a wholesome curiosity and a distrust of those in power: because if we accomplish this, we will eventually rebuild the public’s trust in news.