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Journalism is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “The activity or profession of writing
for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or preparing news to be broadcast”. This tells me that I need to ensure that I
understand how the word “news” is defined.
The same dictionary defines the word “news” as “Newly received or
noteworthy information, especially about recent events.”. This still presses my curiosity to dig a
little deeper. I think we need a more
clear definition of the word “Information”, which Oxford defines as “Facts
provided or learned about something or someone”. Facts are defined as “things that are
known or proven to be true”.
Using these four definitions, Journalism is the activity or
profession of writing the truth for sources of news. This is interesting because it seems that
news sources in the United States and perhaps in many places throughout the
world, have seemingly drifted away from the concept of truth. True is the foundational word which is
defined as “In accordance with fact or reality”. So when we see multiple news sources writing about
the same topic, but each source tells it in a manner which the reader can pull
different conclusions from it, I see that as a problem. The definition of this is “Spin” or “the act
of giving (a news story) a particular emphasis or bias”.
Bias strikes me as a yellow flag word, it is defined as the “Inclination
or prejudice for or against one person or group, especially in a way considered
to be unfair.” This can be considered a
rather negative term, in my opinion. If
I understand the definition of “bias”, then the definition of spin is very
clear. Spin is the act of giving (a news
story) an unfair inclination or prejudice against a person or group. Which would make what is written by today’s
news sources what we often call “spin” and not “news” since it is not hard
truth, but rather is an altered or emphasized/biased truth.
Now we are getting down to the meat and potatoes of the point
which I am making. Interestingly, the
Cambridge Dictionary puts a definition to the word “spin” as a noun. It is defined as “a clever way of expressing
an idea to make it seem better than it really is, especially in politics”. Webster further defines it as “a special
point of view, emphasis, or interpretation presented for the purpose of
influencing opinion”. So by definition,
the noun “spin” is a counter to the words “fact” and “truth” which means if the
news source is reporting “spin” then they are not reporting “news” by its
definition in the premier experts in the use of the English language.
Todays news sources report spin and not actual news which means
that they are not journalistic in nature.
What they do, can not be defined as journalism, because they are
reporting altered or biased information and not clear and concise truthful
fact.
Think about that.
