Blurring the News and Entertainment

Most people reading these words will remember when journalism was a scared trust. The main objective of reporters was to be the objective first witnesses of history. The criteria were defined clearly. It was to tell the story: who, where, how, when and why. News services prided themselves on having the story first and having the story right.

The times have changed and the whole concept of reporting has changed.

Now the reporters will speculate. There will be words that give away the theme. Key words to attend to are:

• “could”
• “should”
• “might”

This is not reporting the news. It is guessing what the news might be. The reporter, instead of being an objective witness, is interjecting himself / herself into the story. The reporter becomes part of the story. The paid speculation is entertainment - entertainment presented in the facade of the news.

Often, the news forecasting is biased. It has a ‘not-so-hidden’ agenda. This is abundantly obvious as political news dominates. It used to be that opinion was limited to the editorial pages. Regrettably, editorial prerogative has been blurred and confused with the news. And that type of news reporting is a grave disservice to the public - we the people deserve better.

Catherine Forsythe