Accepting the Work of Media

Is the media trustworthy? Are they worthy of our time and attention? Do they make us feel like reading their stories and listening to their reports is time well-spent? Sadly for us all the answer to each of these questions is the same: "no." In terms of why this is the case, my own theory is the reputation of the media has declined proportionally to the rise of niche journalism; those outlets that specifically gear their work to reporting the news with a particular bias. Media outlets of that ilk may be satisfying their followers, but they sure are not doing their profession or information seekers of all stripes any favors.

Recently, I attended a lecture by Dr. Seong-Ho Park, senior commentator of YTN, South Korea's premiere 24-hour television new channel. Dr. Park attempted to address the question of the media's trustworthiness. While urging readers and viewers to be skeptical, he views good reporters as being unbiased. They collect information, weigh its potential impact, timeliness, level of unusualness, and relevance, and then share it with the public. Dr. Park observed that good reporters are only concerned with reporting the truth. They do not operate under a cloud of bias, he suggested. This, of course, sounds good but I am sure I agree.

We all certainly want our press to be totally objective. But wanting does not make it so. Reporters are people and people have their likes, dislikes and sense of what is important. As a result, what they produce comes with a slant. The sooner we can embrace this reality the better we can process the news. Be skeptical as Dr. Park advised. Processing the work of public relations professionals should be done with the same perspective. It is a matter of not accepting the complete of any happening from only one source. This may make communicating more of a challenge, but it is possible it could make it more effective, too.