Shoddy journalism

To the editor:

“What do we do?” I’ve heard this question echoed around the country more recently than usual in the last few trying weeks. The Earth is bleeding onto American shores, Israel is acting like the neighborhood bully, Iran, global economy, legalized Arizona racism, and now Stephen Hawking wants us afraid of the stars. So, seriously, what do we do?

Who gets the blame and what’s the punishment? One would typically turn to journalism for such answers. Yet, in the last two decades, the profession has become more and more MTV-oriented, as if 14-year-old girls should make the important decisions of our time. Hell, they can’t even make good decisions when it comes to music.

Since the news has none of these answers, let alone questions, I’d say we blame the news. Journalism for the most part, has been diminished to a bunch of church gossips and sorority girls with no interest in anything but their own pitiful careers.

There are, of course, exceptions. As the raid on humanitarians and journalists in international water by Israeli troops proves, being a true journalist has become one of the more dangerous jobs out there. Those that take their responsibility serious are ever-more jailed, tortured, killed or just plain go missing. Kudos to real journalists, we truly do need you. As for the rest of you, please wake up and do your job, or else take the blame that you deserve for years of shoddy work.