You’ll Never Guess How Truthful the Media Is Until You Read This

You’ll Never Guess How Truthful the Media is Until You Read This

“In a nationally televised address Aug. 8, Nixon announces that he is to resign the presidency.” (Washington Post) Courtesy of two reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (Woodstein), the President of the United States was brought to the justice. Through their perseverance and investigative skills, they were able to uncover the truth, and revealed the Watergate Scandal to the American people. The journalistic standards of the Watergate era brought forth a time of truth and justice that not even the most powerful man in the world was exempt from; and through their efforts they brought down corrupt Richard Nixon.

As the years pass the journalistic standards of the Watergate era continues to fade. Rumors and assumptions are the new truth, sources are anonymous tweets or spotty facebook comments, and media are corporate monsters with insatiable hungers for money. The internet only adds to the discord, and allows abuse without consequence. Today our media are broken systems, in which we as a nation need to learn to navigate.

In order to outsmart the con men, one must understand how media operates, how it is abused, and what truthful media looks like. It is the duty of the American people to equip oneself with the tools necessary to overcome this.

Media of the past is much different than it is today. The Watergate era was a type of journalistic ‘Golden Age’. It was a time in which reporters served the American people and getting a story correct was more important than ratings. The fate of the American people hinged on honesty and reliability in news.

In the Watergate incident, the media played its largest role ever in the history of the United States. On June 19, 1972, two days after five men were caught attempting to bug the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel, a story, written by Woodstein, was printed by the Washington Post stating, “Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell, head of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President [(CREEP)] said yesterday McCord [(A CIA employee)] was employed to help install that committee’s own security system. In a statement issued in Los Angeles, Mitchell said McCord and the other four men arrested at Democratic headquarters Saturday “were not operating either in our behalf or with our consent” in the alleged bugging attempt. [Bob] Dole [( A Republican senator from Kansas)] issued a similar statement, adding that “we deplore action of this kind in or out of politics.” An aide to Dole said he was unsure at this time exactly what security services McCord was hired to perform by the National Committee. Police sources said last night that they were seeking a sixth man in connection with the attempted bugging. The sources would give no other details.” (Washington Post) Woodstein were the first reporters on the case. As days turned to months, they uncovered that President of the United States, Richard Nixon, was the one who ordered the bugging through CREEP; and on August 9, 1974, President Nixon resigned from office.

As heroic as this may seem, this was by no means an easy story to report. It required a certain set of investigative skills called the principles of journalism. They are the core attributes that make up proper journalism. A list of these principles was compiled in 1997 by a small group of professional journalists named the Committee of Concerned Journalists. Woodstein leaned on many of them heavily while researching and reporting.

“Journalism’s first obligation is to tell the truth.” In order to preserve democracy, it is the responsibility of journalists to keep personal bias out of the way. The whole truth allows one to make decisions that shapes the future. Woodstein put political preference aside while reporting Watergate, making their work a prime example of unbiased journalism.

“[Journalism's] loyalty is to its citizens.” One of the main goals of reporters during the Watergate era was to report to people for the people. Unlike today’s media, news was not completely engrossed in money or popularity; it was about truthfully informing the American people on the world’s happenings. Good journalism is upholding the people’s Constitutional right to freedom of press. Woodstein served their viewers faithfully.

“[Journalism’s] essence is discipline of verification.” Verifying sources is the key to good journalism. Woodstein used their sources effectively when reporting the Watergate Scandal. Whether the sources were rogue CREEP members, or anonymous contacts met in the middle of the night, their facts were always backed. One of their most heavily leaned on source, Deep Throat, guided them through the thick and always helped verify the story.

Even these few principles played a major role in Watergate. When they are used responsibly media can become an instrument of justice. Unfortunately, the time of President Nixon was almost 40 years ago, and the core journalistic standards seem to have faded. Media today is a world of money and power rather than one of truth. People extort news for personal gain and con others to make millions. It is important to understand how and why media manipulators do this.

Internet media today is a world in which one must possess the ability to decipher the true from the false. Controlled by money-hungry con men, it is infested with clickbait, conspiracies, and social justice keyboard warriors. It is a place in which one can pick and choose what is ‘fact’ solely on what news outlet an article is gotten from. Information on the same topic tends to differ from source to source based on the its political alignment. The info we get drives the world around us, so if false information becomes widespread, then it can alter the course we take.

For example, an article by Gabriel Sherman at the New York Magazine wrote, “Hillary Clinton is being urged by a group of prominent computer scientists and election lawyers to call for a recount in three swing states won by Donald Trump.” (Slate) The story was based on the fact that in Wisconsin, Hillary Clinton had 7% less votes in counties that voted electronically, compared to those that voted using paper ballots. The day after Sherman’s article ran, ABC’s election statistician, Nate Silver, tried to douse the flames. “Anyone making allegations of a possible massive electoral hack should provide proof,” he wrote, “and we can’t find any.” (Federalist) Additionally, he pointed out one statement from a computer scientist referenced in Sherman’s article was misrepresented. The controversy led to a recount in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Sherman’s article was shared more than 100,000 times online from the primary source, let alone the retweets or secondary shares. In the end, Hillary Clinton’s adversary, Donald Trump, actually received an additional 100+ votes, but by this time no one was listening. The only thing that mattered was Sherman walked away with a few extra bucks, and he furthered the divide between democrat and republican.

Sherman intentionally baited people with a controversial topic in order for his story to be viewed. Media manipulators do not care about the impact their stories have, all that matters is money is made. Clickbait is one of the simplest ways to generate revenue on social media; it is also one of the more dangerous traps for novice internet readers. Clickbait are absurd ads or links littered throughout social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc... Most clickbait have ridiculous titles that are often posed as a question. Titles like, “Celebs you Didn’t Know are Black”, “What Happens to this Man INSIDE A Water Balloon Will Stay With You”, or “14 year-old Girl Stabbed Her Little Sister 40 Times, Police Say. The reason will shock you” (SmoshPit) are ridiculous, stand-out clickbait headlines. People will often click them in order to find out more on the story, but by then it is already too late. The second the page is opened, it is counted as a ‘view’ regardless of whether or not the story is read. For each view the blog makes a certain amount of money from companies who own an ad spot on the site. In addition to the money scheme, the story is more than likely poorly written and obviously false. Sites that are notorious for clickbait, like BuzzFeed, InfoWars, or CNN, are only interested in the traffic and money that is made. Clickbait is harmless in most cases but can have serious repercussions.

In 2013 a death hoax spread throughout media, not once but twice, about Jackie Chan. While filming his new karate movie, Rush Hour 4, a rumor came about that he had suffered a heart attack and brutally died in the hospital. The hoax spread quickly through twitter and facebook in the form of clickbait, and it quickly hit the headlines of conspiracy websites. It died out quickly, after it was rightly dismissed as a hoax. It was not until a few months later the rumor resurfaced more intensely than before. Chan was forced post a picture of himself on facebook with the comment, “Everybody called me to see if I was alive. If I died, I would probably tell the world! I took a photo with today's date, just in case you don't believe me!" (New York Daily…) It took days for people to stop writing “Rip Jackie Chan. You will be missed <3” on facebook feeds. The sad thing is is media profited off of the readers misinformation without any repercussions. It goes to show the lack of care for fake news in the world today.

Not only will news outlets fabricate stories or create clickbait, but outside sources will influence news too. According to media manipulator, Ryan Holiday, blogs and major news stations are