Truth, integrity, and the news

Where does journalism stand in a Donald Trump presidency?

Edwin J. Viera, Columnist

What is a journalist? The American Heritage Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus defines journalism as “The collecting, writing, editing, and presentation of news in print or electronic media.” The second definition is “Written material of current or popular interest.”

During the Academy Awards, The New York Times, ran an advertisement called The Truth. The advertisement contains black text on a white background saying different things about the Trump Administration’s actions. Before the ad came out, President Trump tweeted about it saying:

Donald Trump has been anti-media even before he came into office. He has taken shots at The New York Times before.  One of them said, “Really disgusting that the failing New York Times allows dishonest writers to totally fabricate stories.”

Journalism as a whole has taken a lot of heat from the Trump administration, and while this newspaper was able to stand on its own two feet and rise, others have not been as fortunate. For many years, CNN has been considered one of the most reliable news sources.

But CNN has come under speculation many times since Donald Trump was elected because of multiple “fake news” stories it has run. One claimed that during the election thousands of voters wrote-in “Harambe” on their ballot. This article was found to be false and the mistake was corrected.

Journalism is supposed to be about reporting fairly and accurately, but under this president, many news outlets are spending too much time and effort on Trump.

One news organization that is known for its conservative bias is FOX News. Many shows on Fox News, such as The O’Reilly Factor favors Republican views and conservative ideals over that of liberals and Democrats.

In the end, it is not the media that has put Donald Trump in a negative light because most of the things that he has done as president are perceived as negative by a majority of Americans. The travel ban was a disguised Muslim ban, Planned Parenthood was for more than just getting an abortion, and transgender people have the right to use whatever bathroom they want. Journalists aren’t wrong, but he is!

The term “alternative facts” came about during his presidency because of the media’s portrayal of him. An alternative fact is just a lie, and what the media is doing is not lying but rather they are informing the public about the atrocities of this administration.

In this war between the president and the media, the score stands tied with Journalism having one point and Trump having another. The only thing to wait for his next move and see what else about his horrible presidency he decides to blame the media for.

(The New York Times, “The Truth Commercial”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y64d2HUvnRo&feature=youtu.be)

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