Biased news is popular because people are too lazy or don’t have time to create their own opinions and draw conclusions on the news themselves.

Opinion has no place in journalism, save for in the Opinion or Editorial section. It is not necessary to share bias to create a good story. In fact, the point is to tell the facts, and facts can be (and usually are) interesting. Quotes, images, videos: these are 80% or more of news stories, and they are fascinating because they share the actions, reactions and emotions of people.

A newspaper’s purpose is not to stand out from other newspapers by creating an opinion or a bias different from others, but simply to portray the truth to its audience. If anything, a newspaper can stand out from other newspapers by being the most accurate, objective and comprehensive that is reasonably possible.

The purpose of journalism is not to entertain, but to inform.

Backstory on this rant: Today at WJMC we filmed with the Washington Journal for C-SPAN, along with Brian Lamb of C-SPAN.

During Brian Lamb’s filming, he asked us what role opinion and bias plays in the news today. Many of my peers said that they believe bias plays a part in news, or opinion is necessary for news to be interesting. This was appalling to me. Since when has the purpose of news been to entertain? I honestly can’t understand why someone would believe that biased news was a good thing. If anything, news stations or publications that publish biased or opinionated news are manipulating their audience. They’re playing on the fact that people are too busy or too lazy to form their own opinions, and so they form it for them, and thus increase the amount of money being dropped into their pockets.

Rather than flipping to Fox News or some other obviously biased and often inappropriate news station or publication, take the time to formulate your own opinion and support a publication that does its duty in the world of journalism: telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Side note: for unbiased news check out the Associated Press, mother of all publications.

My initial impression of Kotb was not too flattering. Having only seen her segment on the Today Show a few times, I thought she was shallow and ridiculous, not someone to be taken seriously. However, after hearing from my fellow National Youth Correspondents who have (or haven’t) read her book and listening to her enthralling keynotes speech at the National Press Club today, my opinion is changed completely.

I think I’d just like to share some of Kotb’s quotes that I scribbled down furiously (and later tweeted) during her speech today:

• “It only takes one person to change your life. Just one.” Kotb explained to us how after 27 rejections from various newsrooms over the course of 10 days, one man changed her life by giving her a job at his news station and by believing in her. It’s amazing to think that purely by coincidence we can meet someone who will change our lives completely.
• “It’s about valuing what you do.” Kotb told us an anecdote about Al Roker, weatherman. She said that every single day, rain or shine, even if he’s working until 2 a.m. when he has to get up at 4 a.m. the next day, Roker always has a smile on his face, and is in a perpetually good mood. One day Kotb asked him why. Roker replied that his father was just a city bus driver, so he was grateful to be able to come to 30 Rock to work for the Today Show every single day. When you can really appreciate what you’ve come to earn, your life will be so much happier because you’ll understand how lucky you are.
• “There’s something magical about being just who you are. People will forgive you of a mistake if it’s a natural one.” Kotb told us another anecdote about one of her first days on the Today Show with Kathie Lee Gifford. Up until that point, Kotb had been anxious, stressed and pressured; she was constantly receiving instructions from countless people at a time while trying to keep the show exactly on point and keeping Kathie Lee in check. One day Kathie Lee told her to throw away her notecards for the show and come join the rest of the world. With Kotb followed these instructions, she found that being true to herself and letting her personality shine on her show made for a more fun, dynamic and ultimately more successful environment.
• “Be here now.” Kotb talked a lot about being present with whoever you’re with, wherever you are. Rather than letting your mind wander and worrying about what you’re going to eat for lunch or who you’re going to walk with at the museum or sit next to on the bus, or that history project due in a few days, focus on what’s at hand. When you’re talking to someone, really listen to them rather than smiling and nodding or pretending to understand what they’re saying. When you’re aware of and focused on the world around you, you will understand, observe, and connect more.
• A quote going along with the one above is “Bloom where you’re planted.” This essentially means that one should strive to develop and focus in the place where they are right then, the present, rather than letting his/her thoughts wander to other matters.
• “There’s something about being joyful that works.” An intern at the WJMC conference told me at dinner today that when she and her peers greeted Kotb, she was amazed by the abundance of energy and activity radiating from Kotb. Kotb herself is a prime example of this quote in action, but all of us know it to be true. When someone is joyful, they draw the attention, admiration and warmth of others.

Journalism is about truth. The purpose is to portray the truth to your audience. When I read an article by someone and I assume it to be true, but later I hear that it’s false or some facts were incorrect or misattributed, I instantly lose most (if not all) of my respect for that person. It is the responsibility, the duty, of a journalist to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Journalists must always verify their sources and work their hardest to give their audience only the true news. The point of news is not opinion. The point of news is to give facts.

As our group adviser, Michelle, told us today, “it takes courage to put your name on something and say ‘this is the truth.’ It takes even more to be able to admit that you were wrong.”

Journalists have a responsibility to be correct and truthful, and that must be corrected when that responsibility is breached.

What drew me to journalism in the first place was the noble duty that journalists have to give their audience the TRUTH. As Michelle also told us today, journalists might do their job for the thrill, maybe for the glory, but mostly because they feel a responsibility. We feel responsibilities to those around us; we feel as if we must get the truth and the important information out, quickly and accurately, to others.

My newspaper adviser from a couple of years ago, Chad Rummel, told us that if something was not recorded in a yearbook, basically it didn’t happen. Without yearbooks there would be no record of who was in your graduating class, who was class president, who was in which club, etc.

Photojournalism is the yearbook of the real world. It is the duty of photographers to record the actions, emotions and reactions of the world around them.

Think back to ancient Greece. There were no photographs, only illustrations and sculptures. Try to picture a Spartan citizen. Now think about World War II. Try to picture Adolph Hitler. The second task is much simpler; the images become easier to visualize when photographs of an event are in existence for a person to familiarize themselves with.

The influence of a photograph is staggering. Think about the cheesy ASPCA commercials with Sarah McLachlan: the effect of the photographs makes you upset and makes you realize that those unfortunate, mistreated animals are real.

The effect a photo can have on someone is unpredictable. I’m old enough to remember 9-11, but I had no idea what was going on at the time or the impact it would have on our lives. Recently, in my US history class, we watched a documentary of eye witness footage and reactions, and I was shocked. Much to my own surprise, the reality of the terror struck me and I cried through the movie. Viewing a picture of something gives that thing gravity and makes it real. Its dimensions are defined and one thinks, “wow, that really happened.”

Propaganda (noun): Information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

Propaganda can glorify war. Think about all the pride you feel for your country, but then look up a photograph of a war your country has been involved in and try to feel that same pride for what your country is doing, what crimes they are committing, which of your values they’re ignoring. Photojournalism allows you to see the reality of a situation. You can read about something, you can hear about something, but when you can really see a situation, it makes you realize that it’s actually happening.

Something to think about is WHY people tell things to journalists. You ask someone an answer about something controversial, and you expect him/her not to answer, but s/he does. Why? What motivates people to tell things to journalists? Is it the want for attention? A desire to get back at someone? It could be anything, but it is certainly one of the most important things to consider.

Firstly, can I just say that Chris Cillizza is a fantastic speaker. For those of you who don’t know, he’s the creator of The Washington Post’s political blog, The Fix. He spoke to us today about many things, specifically the need to spread oneself across the spectrum of mediums that is journalism.

Cillizza said that when creating his blog, The Fix, as a 20-something-year-old he was given freedom because the failure of his blog would cause no harm to The Washington Post, and for his seniors it was just an experiment. In his speech to us, he said his mantra was “Why not try to do stuff differently?” To me, that’s genius: what your audience wants to see is something they’ve never seen before, something that will catch their attention, something that won’t bore them senseless. Cillizza helped his blog take off by using alternative story formats such as rankings and lists. I can connect to that because my baby, (our school’s publication) the Oakton Outlook, has been struggling the past few years (or forever) with a lack of readership from our students, and my junior year we expanded our audience significantly by increasing the amount of alternative story formats we used. As Cillizza told us, the goal of journalism should be to influence as many people as possible, and with alternative story formats you can do just that.

Coming off of this, we can also talk about the different mediums available to use in this day and age in addition to the alternative story formats. Cillizza used food as a metaphor for us: it used to be that you were just passed some meatloaf, some potatoes, and some broccoli, and you took what you were handed. There used to be only a few major newspapers and that was it, that was the only place you could go to get news. Nowadays you can choose your news; it’s like a buffet. You have infinite mediums to choose from at this point, from twitter to facebook to traditional newspapers to magazines to websites to television to radio, etc etc etc.

It’s pretty much the duty of journalists at this point to utilize every medium possible to get news out to their audience, and that’s definitely a skill we’re honing here at WJMC. I’ll have to post a picture later, but they even have signs all around our dorms reminding us, “Don’t forget to tweet! #WJMC”

More later if I’m up for it? I’m definitely having too much fun, even on the first night. :)