Journalism is in a crisis.
Jesus, that would be a terrible introduction, if I actually published this outside of a personal blog.
I'll be honest and point out, that I have no idea how was it 10 years ago, last century or whatever. Right now, however, it saddens to see what is published. The content, form and hidden dishonesty of the author make the news reading/watching unbearable at times. Somehow, radio news have never done that, and maybe it's because I only listen to two different news programs on the radio.
There was a case in the Latvian magazine "Sestdiena" where they published results to a poll, whether Latvian citizens trust euro as a currency or not.
Possible answers:
*Yes (as in, I trust in euro)
*Rather yes
*No
*Rather no
*No opinion
The problem was not with the results (most people with opinion did not trust euro at the time of poll), it was with the presentation. The journalist did not publish all the results, which could have been done with a pie chart easily. He/She (the name could not be found, so I couldn't sue the asshole) counted "No" and "Rather no" answers together, to get the majority, and then finished off with "Only 13% trust euro". In fact, it was never mentioned in the short article, what the possible answers were. So, if I had not seen the original poll in the origin website, I would have assumed, that 13% said yes, 60% said no, and a whooping 27% didn't care, which would not be surprising, but it is also untrue. That was a clear manipulation of data, and I assume, that at least 90% of people, who read the article, had not seen the actual results. So, fuck you, whoever did this, that was the same level as Some people say technique.
The publisher, who's responsible for the magazine also publishes the most popular newspaper in Latvia, "Diena". In November, as I came home, I glanced at the "above the fold" sections of some "Diena" issues, and almost got a stroke from the dishonesty of a statement. "Obama wins by a small margin."
How about fuck you, 332 to 206 is not a small margin, that is way over 60% of electoral votes, which, obviously, is not stated anywhere near the front page. Nobody, except the losers, care for the popular vote, because that is not how USA elections work.
Alright, there were the cases of dishonesty.
The source. Today, as part of TV Journalism class, we had screenings of some student-made news stories. Some of them had interviews with politicians. One specific piece had an interview with a prime minister and some deputies and some experts as well, as far as I remember. It was on the proposal to decrease salaries for the government, I think. Sounds great for student journalism?
I don't think the group that produced that had ever seen the news. They included opinions from people on the street, that didn't have an opinion. Yes, that's great, show me more nothing. It appeared as if some interviewees were included just because they sounded clever. A Russian lady, whose response was also included, said this: "They need to pay average people better, I don't care for the government." Alright, so no opinion about the original question, but included just to mess with us.
But the worst was saved for last. One of the "journalists" that concluded the story said this: "But what really concerns me is that only 23 out of 101 seats in the parliament are held by women."
I don't give a shit about what you're concerned about, especially not in this manner of presentation. Women have half the votes of the country, women have rights to compete for the seats, and, yes, while there is some sexual discrimination, you are not helping by doing a mediocre story and then blurting out "I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH KNOWLEDGE TO COMMENT ON WHAT OTHERS SAY SO HERE'S ANOTHER ISSUE"
And I also don't give a shit that it's a story done by students. They had gained access to parliament and government, and they ruined it. If they wanted to do it on politics, I suppose they think they're interested and capable of doing it.
I can't promise perfect results, there were worse jobs, but this set me off.
And then there's this guy, who also plans to become a journalist, and if he doesn't fail his exams, I'll lose my trust in Latvian University for good.
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