State of the News Media

I find the most interesting part of our reading was found in the actual stories the media focused on covering throughout the year. The top stories seemed to have included two of the most talked about issues, the War in Iraq and the 2008 Presidential election. Then I asked myself if these really were two of the hot button issues, or if media created the hyped up environment surrounding the stories. While the continuance of the war was on everyone's mind, as well as the controversial and drawn out Presidential campaigns, there were many other stories that deserved the same, if not more, coverage. Readers, or users/scanners of news as we now refer to them as, were forced to increase their interest and knowledge in these stories that the media stuck on the top of the year's news agenda. By looking at the surveys the project conducted, we can easily see that the public wanted more attention spent on other issues, such as gas prices or the Chinese toy recalls. However, as a consistent user of news and an aspiring journalist, I wouldn't have been able to tell the public was unhappy with the coverage of issues. Since I was working on Capitol Hill this year in my Representative's office (Rep. Paul Hodes, D-NH), I was aware of the top issues for the public for 2008, drilling domestically, the increasing gas prices, and the housing crisis with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But if I wasn't put into this position, as was the case in 2007, I wouldn't have known that these were huge issues if the media wasn't covering them to the extent the public was looking for. With the increasing ways for consumers of news to comment back to the media, through blogs, letters to the editors, or forums, one would think that the media would be more responsive to the public wants and interests. It disappoints me that the media takes it upon itself to decide what takes higher priority on the news agenda. I can imagine that the business side of the media might be influencing these decisions in order to increase or maintain profits, but I would still hope that there are journalists in the industry that are still in the field to inform and cater to the public, instead of going along with the administration side of media and giving in. Where's the fight in journalists? Where is the passion that many journalists entered the field with? It disheartens me a little bit, but it pushes me to continue growing and learning as a journalist, so when I enter the field I can help make changes.