Different Stories of Journalism

Disclaimer: The stories in this post are purely fiction.

He is a veteran journalist, and a popular documentary program host. Tackling a lot of controversial issues, as well as good storytelling gave him awards. Future journalists look up to him, and was invited as a speaker in different journalistic events.

Because of his stature in media, some politicians has approached him to run for a position in the government. To benefit from a possible position he might attain, his bosses from the news department tried to convince him to accept the candidacy. He has to sign a document and a non-disclosure agreement that will favor him and the media network. Without second thoughts, he signed the documents.

He agreed to run for a vice-presidential position. His fame helped in his candidacy, and won as the vice-president. After few years, he was criticized because he did nothing for the government.

A brave journalist who will report nothing but the truth. The exposé about corruption of some politicians is in her column, which is very accessible in the newspaper. The news organization she's a part of advised her to stop in her reports about such politicians because of death threats she received.

At one time, the door bell of her house rang. She opened the door and saw no one around. A bag of money is at her front door with a threat message. Instead of returning the money to the politician, she took it to the police department. To protect her family, she left the column she used to report on. Talked to her manager, and asked for a column which talks about light issues, non-political ones. Her salary might have declined but she's happier, and feels safer not receiving any threats.

Promotion is what she aimed on her job. She does everything to be the top media woman in the country. In her program where she interviewed a lot of personalities, mostly from politics, her questions look like a brave act but in reality, she wanted to be relevant. Her bosses approved of her way of questioning because it fits their own politics. However, time came when she was bashed for her unfair questioning. She doesn't care. Her skin is too thick that criticisms won't affect her anymore.

She's supposed to report a protest of a group of people. To make it look that many came for the protest, she arranged them in a certain area to which the protesters complied. She sought the help of her cameraman to make it look that the people behind her who are protesting will seem many. Instructed the protesters what to do, and what to react while the protest is ongoing.

A writer about finance and business. He sure do collect cryptocurrencies. A big boss of a bank company called on him, and offered a huge chunk of money in exchange for a negative report about cryptocurrencies. He accepted the offer, and published the article negative about crypto. It affected the price of majority of coins, and he received bashing from crypto community in social media so he deactivated his account. It's fine for him as he bought more Bitcoins out of the money he received from the bank owner. Afterwards, he prepares a positive article for another writer about cryptocurrencies that might help for the surge of crypto prices.

The media boss called all those in news department for a meeting. Election is coming, and it's time to influence voters who will they vote. It was discussed how will they sabotage a certain candidate who is leading the survey. Everyone agreed, and worked their way how to skillfully manipulate their news reports.

An award winning journalist and broadcaster. She produces her own magazine program, which had a wide reach of viewers, and served as the host. Her program has so much drama that they featured a certain person living in poverty. The person featured received a lot of donations but eventually, it came to light that the story is just all for the drama.

She was called by the news chief to create a documentary regarding a rebel group. The chief already contacted the group leader because the broadcast network has connections with them. The documentary is a sort of romanticization of being in a rebel group going against the government. Instead of complying to the news chief, she declined and decided to leave her job, and go away from camera. For her, it's against the ethics and standards of journalists. She never wanted to become a propagandist.

Media played a huge part in shaping our minds. Back then when social media doesn't exist, we believed what we see on news programs easily as we had given our trusts to them. We relied on their reports expecting of their accuracy.

Internet use has widened, and information is immense. There are fake news, while others has higher percentage of accuracy. We get to see the other side of story of what we see on TV. We realized how our minds has been conditioned all this time. Back in 2003, we heard the song "Where is the Love?" by Black Eyed Peas by which it was mentioned "wrong information always shown by the media" yet not everyone at that time realized that truth in the song. Media are either private or government entities. There are biases for their business (mainstream media) or administration (government-owned media network). We are presented with half-truths and manipulation of news reports. They even became dramatic that touches our emotions. Of course, we cannot generalize that a journalist is manipulative. There are honest journalists out there ready to present the whole truth. However, it's not that easy to trace honest reports right now, and it depends on an individual how to distinguish facts from twisted information.

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