Reporters, without them we wouldn't know very much about what is going on in the world. With them, depending on what you listen to you may get biased news. With some newspapers you get a right wing view, with others a left wing view. My question is does the ordinary man or woman in the street know that what they are seeing or hearing is dictated by an editorial policy that sees things in one particular way?
Should the media not be telling the pubic the news in an unbiased way?
Speaking as a young journalist, I know that stories must have what’s called an “angle”. However that doesn't mean that the media should be allowed to change the news. Sometimes newspapers put their own spin on the news and yet they are the very same people who condemn the political spin doctors.
In my opinion newspapers have taken everyday news and turned it into the opinion piece of a corporation.
When people talk about what is happening in the news do they actually know that unless they get their information from a number of sources they are probably just spouting out the view point of one journalist or another? In my opinion newspapers have taken everyday news and turned it into the opinion piece of a corporation. Yes journalists are allowed, in some cases, to put their own opinion in some stories but I feel this has gone too far. This is press freedom gone mad. Indeed, it is an abuse of power.
How can we report the news properly if we are banned from reporting the truth…
News organisations are being forced into portraying people in a positive light or they won't be allowed to publish at all. ITV was recently banned from reporting from the front line in Iraq and Afghanistan because they spoke badly of the Ministry of Defence. Why do we allow this to happen? How can we report the news properly if we are banned from reporting the truth or put so much spin on the news that it's just another opinion piece?
From what I have seen of the media there are very few organisations that report the news from an unbiased view point. We should be supporting journalism, true journalists report the facts and that it's. We have become a culture that accepts what it's told without question. In my opinion we need more John Snows and Jeremy Paxmans. We need people who will chase down the facts with a sword of truth in one hand and a dictaphone in the other.
About this team
This article was written by Ben Ritchie, 16, and edited by Lyra McKee, 16. It was published on the Reach for the Sky website.
