In the words of Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben, “with great power, comes great responsibility.” That stands for all of us in life. We all have a great power as human beings, to create, to help, to learn, to change. The news is supposed to be trusted with giving truthful and complete information to the people. In this time of absolute internal, external, and moral chaos, they are absolutely failing at doing so.
The language they chose to use around these issues is set to divide even more than the current political offices are. There are few showing videos incriminating the police of the instigation they commit that leads to violent outbreaks, they often cut parts of videos out, they conform to government wishes on a whim, they have been targeted by politicians HEAVILY since 2016 and are sadly beginning to skew the information to make sure to save some peoples egos.
In addition to suppressing evidence, a wide array of inaccurate numbers and graphics have been used to skew the public’s understanding of police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement as a whole. There is not only dismissal of what actually takes place, but a spread of misinformation to make the protests seems even more “unnecessary” to those that do not believe in oppression and racism that plagues our country. Statistics such as race crime and murders by police show skewed graphs or do not take into consideration all of the numbers involved in creating statistics.
The peaceful protests that they cover are much deeper and much more complex than just protests over the death of George Floyd. They are protests over police brutality, holding police accountable, and most of all racism on a national and even GLOBAL scale. Many take what news and media say as law. That is something that cannot be ignored. To use this for ones own advantage is an abuse of power. What will it take for journalists to realize they are failing at what they swore to do? Just as the police are failing at what they swore to do? When will the FULL truth be given to the public as they have a right to see it? When will journalists realize that they are harming the general public and playing a heavy hand in creating a completely uninformed or misinformed society? When will they finally start using their great power…responsibly?
If there are any up and coming journalists that are in school or about to join the workforce reading this, it is up to us. We as young people have a duty to fix what those above us are not strong enough or honest enough to fix. We have to value honesty and integrity over the all mighty dollar and the title we get to put in front of our name. We have to share the FULL truth no matter how we feel about it. We have to give the information we find no matter what side it takes if it is the truth. We have to fact check EVERYTHING no matter what executive orders get signed. We have to question those above and below us, we have to get to the bottom of everything, no matter the cost. The damage that has been done is not set in stone, but the longer we let this go the more we slip into dangerous territory. The time is now. Be a better voice than there was before.
Feature image via https://www.newsfirst.lk/2019/04/25/terror-in-lanka-explosion-in-pugoda/
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