Is real Journalism dead?

What happened to journalism in America? I understand that with our 24/7 news cycle more pressure is on the various news sources to retain viewership. As I sit here looking for a job, I have the television on in the background. A typical day starts with Morning Joe on MSNBC then a switch to CNN around 11 am. After lunch, I turn the channel back to MSNBC to watch Press Secretary Robert Gibbs daily briefings. All the while I am reading about 10 websites – newspaper, blogs, and other – in my attempt to gain a greater understanding of the issues of the day.

These so-called news programs need to be called out. Newspapers need to be called out. They are all yellow journalists. No longer does the Woodward/Bernstein investigative reporting exist in America. Journalists, mainly those on television, are more in the business to expand their own ego. Why cannot the 24/7 news cycle (MSNBC, CNN, and Fox) report the news without the side commentary or slant of those reporting the news.

The late concept in the electronic media is the aligning with political ideologies. We have MSNBC in with liberals while Fox is aligned with conservatives. The news has always had a bias and rarely do they have a columnist or a host that runs the middle ground. This was obvious during the historic Presidential election of 2008.

In some backroom agreement the major hitters in the industry agreed to put in depth reporting of Sen. Obama on the back burner. The Fox channel was one of a few outlets that tried to vet all candidates properly. The trouble is they were vilified as a right-wing extreme channel due to their intense scrutiny of Sen. Obama. I wonder though if the perception of intense scrutiny was a result of other major news outlets were ignoring virtually everything questionable about Sen. Obama’s past.

It was during the 2008 Presidential election process that journalism fell off the cliff. The climb back to reporting the news without bias may never come. It is truly sad that our country has succumbed to the journalist hacks in the blogosphere that pass themselves off as news reporters. When will America demand better unbiased reporting?