Journalists and the press have to power to distribute information to the public while also having the power to serve as “rigorous watchdog[s] of those in power [or those] who want to be in power”. Although this rippling series in accountability of power has been portrayed as a charismatic facet of journalism, popular culture has also revealed the unfortunate side of journalism that can be dominated by powerful interests—ultimately failing to fulfill it’s duty to “ferret out truth from lies”. Thus popular culture reveals both contrasting sides of journalism: a press that “afflict[s] the comfortable” while “comforting the afflicted” and also a press that does the exact opposite. But despite whether or not the press serves public’s interest,
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Many times these villainous journalists who do not serve the greater good eventually pay the price of their wrongdoings or “repent by trying to do the right thing”. In Absence of Malice, Megan Carter is a reporter who writes a story on a devoutly Catholic schoolteacher who’s had an abortion. The publication of the story eventually leads to the schoolteacher’s suicide. Her best friend, Gallagher, comes and physically attacks Carter. He rebukes Carter, “Couldn’t you see what it was to her? Couldn’t you stop scribbling for a second and put down your goddam ballpoint pen and just see her”. Carter is later publically humiliated and ends up getting fired from her job. She later apologizes to Gallagher and professes her wrongdoing. In the novel Kisses of an Enemy by Ray Flynt, a reporter is fired for making up his sources. But he redeems himself by exposing corruption in Washington D.C. In James Siegel’s novel Deceit, a journalist who ruined his career by writing false stories also redeems himself when he risks his life in order to uncover a conspiracy that involves murder. In Ace in the Hole, the newspaper reporter allows a trapped man to die in a cave for the sake of a story. He ends up getting stabbed to death by the trapper man’s wife. In all these given instances, each journalist who lacked intentions of serving the good of the people ends up paying the
Many times these villainous journalists who do not serve the greater good eventually pay the price of their wrongdoings or “repent by trying to do the right thing”. In Absence of Malice, Megan Carter is a reporter who writes a story on a devoutly Catholic schoolteacher who’s had an abortion. The publication of the story eventually leads to the schoolteacher’s suicide. Her best friend, Gallagher, comes and physically attacks Carter. He rebukes Carter, “Couldn’t you see what it was to her? Couldn’t you stop scribbling for a second and put down your goddam ballpoint pen and just see her”. Carter is later publically humiliated and ends up getting fired from her job. She later apologizes to Gallagher and professes her wrongdoing. In the novel Kisses of an Enemy by Ray Flynt, a reporter is fired for making up his sources. But he redeems himself by exposing corruption in Washington D.C. In James Siegel’s novel Deceit, a journalist who ruined his career by writing false stories also redeems himself when he risks his life in order to uncover a conspiracy that involves murder. In Ace in the Hole, the newspaper reporter allows a trapped man to die in a cave for the sake of a story. He ends up getting stabbed to death by the trapper man’s wife. In all these given instances, each journalist who lacked intentions of serving the good of the people ends up paying the