Don't hate the journalists because of mainstream media's mistakes

Journalism didn't start because someone thought they would make a lot of money. It didn't start merely to provide facts for recreational reading, It didn't start to be objective, and it definitely didn't start as a way to promote the government's objective.

However, mainstream journalism has, for the most part done all those things. Between the constant need to drive readership to websites and get clicks, or the necessity to follow a corporate agenda, mainstream media is driven by dollar signs instead of being driven by a need to hold the nation accountable, which is what journalism was originally meant to do.

When journalism started, it was not objective; not even close. But, even as early as the mid 1820s, the country's leading newspapers were ignoring the issues of the oppressed. According to chapter one of Streitmatter's book, the Voices of Revolution, when laborers were launching a movement to gain more rights, the big newspapers ignored the movement and instead sided with "the merchant capitalists and the growth that they symbolized," (pg. 3).

Mainstream news ignored the abolitionist movement for years. Only when William Loyd Garrison had gained enough support from the people and had been writing his own newspaper, the Liberator, did mainstream news nod its head to his work and give it the credit it was due for facilitating a national revolution.

This early form of independent media parallels current independent media. Whether it be by fueling a revolution in Tunisia or  releasing documents that monumentally change a nation's view on war and national security monitoring, independent media has been responsible for giving a voice to those who struggle to be heard and enacting change... which is why I get SO frustrated whenever people trash talk journalists.

As a double major in politics and journalism, I expect people to regard me with a bit of disgust. People always say (sarcastically), "That's just what we need; more politicians and more journalists." Politicians are often, and usually understandably so, disliked and distrusted. Journalists are too. This is because of the way mainstream media and the government have twisted, lied, and hidden the facts from the people.

However, when I was reading about Garrison's impact, I can't help but be annoyed at the people who generalize journalists. If we took a step back and thought about every major change in this country, and especially the changes granting more and more people their rights, we can always find a journalist in the mix, doing something to spark, fuel, or encourage a revolution called for by the people being ignored by mainstream media and the government. The thing is, when the oppressed get tired of fighting, journalists are always there to keep up their battles.

So I ask this, next time you hear a person complaining about journalism, google a major revolution and observe the influence of the media. I can confidently say that in most cases, a journalist was a voice calling for action and enacting a change.