Week Twenty-Nine: The News, What News?

When I was growing up, I would often try and convince my mom that we had to purchase the black and white tabloids that sat in front of the cash register. I wanted to read the stories and giggle because none of them made any sense at all. "Aliens, monster babies, big foot!"

As I grew older, I would read some teen magazines, the ones about fashion, health, and hair, but tended to only have one or two articles on celebrities. I knew girls who shunned that sort of magazine in favor of "Scandal! Engaged! Dating!" magazines so reminiscent of the tabloids I tried to get purchased as a child. I, who never had much interest in the scandals of movies stars, who were just people doing a job to me, was always out of the loop on their gossip, and gladly so.

I'm in college now. My friends get their news from Fox, from ABC, from the Huffington Post and the New York times. They read online, and read off. We have so many news sources. But I've run into a problem.

They read the celebrities, the daring dos, the millionaires. They keep up to date with what that funny boy with the paternity test is doing and dating, and how so and so is back in rehab again, and why isn't she just put in jail, did she pay the judge or something?

More involved in politics, some scorn all politicians and mock them all, others only scorn the big names, the loud ones, and couldn't care otherwise. I look and look for a news source that isn't as disappointing as that black and white rag with the news of the alien dissections, pictures promised. "Scandal! Outrage! Mocking!" The front page covered in opinion pieces.

When I first started college, I wanted to go into journalism. Science was all well and good, but I wanted to write the news. Now, I have no interest in the field at all. Why? I took a look at journalism, a good hard look. Then I attempted to find a news outlet I could trust.

Scandal! Child died, mother blamed! Intrigue! News?

News?

Where did you go, and why can't I find you? Why do I have to search the news in a foreign language, just to learn about you?

News?

Why can't I trust you? Where are you?

I began my search in 2009. It's been two years. Where did all the news go? And why has it been replace? I hear stories of being able to trust the news...all written before I was even alive. Now, it seems that tabloids are called news outlets, and that all you need to be a reporter is an opinion and a computer.

One Final Byte: I miss that I've never seen: Trustworthy News.