This opinion piece was first published Hold the Line.
Are journalists the most ignorant people in society?
Having endured the hardships of being a newspaper reporter for many years, I've come to realise that the answer is yes.
Most journalists don’t seek out information outside the mainstream bubble and also tend to repeat what they’ve been told by authority figures.
But they don't have the time to do any excavation or research.
This has been a recipe for disaster when it comes to holding those in power to account and has led to a major decline in public trust in traditional media.
diagnosis
Newspapers are essentially money-making machines, especially those mostly owned by large media groups such as Reach, Newsquest and National World.
But among these titles are journalists who genuinely want to serve their communities and ensure that corruption and wrongdoing are brought to public attention.
So why have these individuals and the disinformation agencies they work for managed to get things so wrong for so long?
Fear is the main reason, and it works on many levels: it makes them ignorant, it stops them from asking hard questions, it stops them from submitting challenging story ideas, it makes them believe what other people tell them, even when deep down they know something is wrong.
I was trapped in that fear for most of my career, and while it was terrifying, it was liberating to be able to break free from it.
When I publicly questioned the established narrative in the office or on my social media accounts, I was met with criticism, scorn and, most recently, silence from my colleagues.
These colleagues construct their understanding of the world from television and newspapers, where established narratives about the world are constructed and embedded in their psyches.
Therapy
With gaping holes in journalistic knowledge, wars being fought on false pretenses and freedoms being sacrificed, what can be done about this?Public Security'?
The answer is not complicated: don't believe anything you read in the newspapers or see on TV. That's it. Their currency is propaganda, censorship, and lies on an industrial scale.
Traditional news has created a reality that is so far removed from the truth that it is impossible for people to escape from it.
Doing so would be so traumatic that the journalists who, unconsciously or not, created and believed this false reality will do everything in their power to defend it.
The human suffering that has been tolerated, and the lies that have been repeated so many times without protest, are unforgivable to those who know the ways of the world.
However, the situation we face, although it has become more pronounced since the beginning of 2020, is not a new phenomenon.
Turning off the television, or at least being extremely skeptical of television commentators, is an essential step for any journalist who is serious about serving their community.
Journalists must let go of the fear that is holding them back and replace it with the fear of what will happen to society if they continue to operate only within the false reality that they have created.
