In
American we do not trust
A faceless name has once again reaffirmed
our collective progression towards a society
based on mistrust. Jayson Blair, a reporter
for the New York Times, lied in more than
two dozen of his stories, and that is only
the ones that have been confirmed so far.
I can see it now, your face says it all,
“So what?”
It is bigger than this, bigger than the
Times, bigger than journalism, bigger than
reader trust. It’s any kind of trust.
In a poll of nearly 100,000 (96,225 to be
exact) people, 56 percent said that they
somewhat had faith in the media but that
there were too many mistakes, 36 percent
said they had lost all faith in the media
and only 12 percent said that the majority
of reporting was correct.
This may only be a poll about journalism,
but the nationwide, if not the worldwide,
epidemic is only a hop, skip and a jump
away from this.
Look around: Enron scandals, big oil interests,
budget deficits, conflicts of interests
in the CSU computer network, misinformation,
bogus tax cuts, corporate America, the government,
big media, the church. Institutions. Lies.
These days,two of the major institutions
might as well be one. Big business is in
bed with the government, but there are no
monopoly busters like there was in the early
20th century. Instead, there are tax cuts,
relaxation of environmental regulations,
non-enforced laws, and, as always, the lies.
The Bush administration is basically a collection
of corporate sponsors, each major player
having strong to very strong connections
to some giant corporation.
Big media has its share of flaws. Concentrated
ownership of media outlets has decreased
the flow of information. Fewer sources,
less real news, more regurgitated slop turned
into entertainment. The television networks
shoot out some sound bytes that get ratings,
but doesn’t really say anything. And, of
course, there is always the chance we are
being lied to.
The church could have been somewhere to
turn when looking for someone to trust,
but even there we find something less. Scandals,
cover-ups, years of lying to keep quiet
the damage that was being done. All that
so they could preach another Sunday lecture
to the blissfully ignorant churchgoers.
It’s disheartening, to say the least, that
there is nothing left to believe in. I feel
like an old cliché, just looking
for the American dream. I would like to
think there is something left of it, even
if it is not all it was cracked up to be.
With all the things that go on in the world
and all the things that someone says is
happening that could be questioned, it would
be awfully nice to be sure of something
every once in a while. But, sometimes, especially
in times like these, I think that is just
a little too much to ask for.
Monica L. Pardee is a journalism major
at Cal State Long Beach.
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