Spring Editorial
Posted May 1, 2023
In light of all the recent happenings in the Journalism world, there is no better truth and the epitome of honesty than there is Fox News. In our new and digital age, there is no single unbiased source that doesn’t feed off at least a little bit of ratings and influence. Truth was highly valued in the world of covering news events and still should be today, despite everything. However as we found out recently, that may not be the case for all and especially in this case, Fox News. Even as colleagues surrounding one pivotal character are rejoicing, we may mull over the real reason as to why it even turned out this way.
Tucker Carlson, one of Fox News' most well-known figures, has been dismissed from the program as he blew up the news internet world with outrageous, inflammatory monologues on a variety of controversial topics.
Mahy have addressed how it’s a move of justice and accountability for those who have been affected by Carlson’s lie throughout his whole entire show. But that begs the question, why did it take so long to even get to this point? Isn’t the world of journalism built on making sure that corrupt organizations take accountability for the harm they pursue first hand immediately? So why is it that there is only punishment now? Is it merely just coming at an opportune time or is there more to the story?
Is it believable that he got ousted from Fox News because of his criticisms that contradicted the prior claims and beliefs he had used as a Talk show host on Fox News? Confidential, private texts in a chatroom amongst Fox News reporters were made public. So it makes you ponder how many of those news correspondents out there are really showing their true colors to the media. Is there any room to believe anything you see on the internet anymore? The News was historically used as a source to spread information widely and get to everyone however we may learn that it is not worth it if the information we learned are just nothing but lies .
This only comes less than a week after Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox for spreading false claims that the system had conspired to rig the 2020 presidential election. The claims about the election even 3 years beyond just never stops. So what role does Carlson play in that to make sure his decision to be cut from the network comes so recently after the defamation lawsuit.
In pursuing the decision to go to court with the lawsuit, Fox News chose to settle this lawsuit out of court by paying an estimated $787.5 million “the largest publicly disclosed monetary settlement ever in an American defamation action”.
Tucker Carlson's now-publicly disclosed texts caused a great deal of embarrassment and humiliation, putting the company in legal jeopardy. Those exact texts expressed his doubts over the plausibility of the information he presented to his viewers. Therefore, a proclaimed journalist was covering information that he was unsure about in whether or not they were even true. Is that within the proper ethical principles of journalism?
In recent times, most of the American journalism which has become notorious has also come famous for its extremist views, and radicalist ideals in a country where progressivism is thoroughly encouraged. There are many worries about this already vulnerable field, and now there’s much more to worry about as the general public becomes more exposed to fake news and loses interest in mainstream media news.
Carlson had concerns that countering the allegations of Conspiracy fraud theory claims would instead make them lose the interest from their audience and viewers. So many would just have to call the election for Joe Biden in the fall of 2020 while continuing to call the claims for election fraud conspiracy theories.
So it speaks to say if there is any truth behind journalism anymore when these are the figures that represent major News networks across the country. Are they people learning what they should be exposed to? Or are news networks and Journalism moguls only concerned about meeting their earning and viewer expectations? They could do anything to keep those ratings up as long as the people are happy.
It doesn't matter what the truth shall reveal but rather only to please the viewers. It seems that the rise of deindividuation is undoubtedly on the rise if the news we get fed everyday only makes us think of what the rest of one group centers on. Where do our true beliefs lie or our own beliefs just a rendition of everyone else’s? That just supports more concern about how the media that we consume so freely and rely become so polarized that we fail to see the divide. Even the best of us who may claim that it’s incredibly dense to fall for fake news could also fall victim to it the very same way that we criticize others for. As a school newspaper, we must question that point and wonder if what we cover is merely just us stating our own opinions or only providing what the world wants to hear instead of what they need to hear.