Shifting the Focus of Today's Journalism

It seems every time you turn on the news today, the coverage is of such a narrow subject: the president and politics. The focus is so heavy on political topics that it makes the networks look like their own reality shows, with the star of the show being Donald Trump. Not to say that covering politics isn’t a necessity and obligation of journalistic companies, but I believe the industry should absolutely expand their focus.

Issues related to the environment, social crisis’, the business world, and many more deserve much more attention. In my eyes, journalists at times fall short of their obligations. Of the many aspects that are needed to be covered, they all seem to tie back to politics. Instead of continuing down that route, I think it would more beneficial if the focus was put more on the people. For example, with the California wildfires, ample amount more coverage was on what President Trump said about the situation instead of the effects it was having on the region in danger. And in many cases the story isn’t relevant for as long as it should be. In the case of the Flint, Michigan water crisis, it seemed that there was a lot of attention placed on it when it first started; now however, it seems a distant memory of a problem that was in the past and has no effect today. But that is far from the truth; the water crisis continues to grow as time goes on. It’s characteristics of journalism like that that need to be improved. Stories such as this one don’t deserve just a couple weeks of publicity, the deserve to be covered in full for the public.

I understand that the flow of news is faster than ever, but that shouldn’t hinder journalists from giving a story the attention it deserves. If I were in a positon to ensure the focus stayed where it should, I would first make sure that all topics are covered across the board. After keeping a balance between the subjects that are talked about, I would ensure that each story is covered in-full. Many times, developments are made within a story as time goes on; not many stories are finished and done with in one job. By truthfully reporting on all relevant topics, and conveying them to the public, it would help fulfill the obligation of being a journalist. The focus needs to be shifted from strictly the oval office, to a broader scale of the entire globe.