The media is always going to be a strong force in our lives. It exists wherever we go and is hard to escape. As I enter the world of journalism, I can only hope that the information I provide people with is fair, balanced, and accurate. The last thing I want to do is have my own personal beliefs have an effect on what I report on to the public -because the last thing I want to see on the news is someone trying to influence how I feel or think about something.
Rathergate.com is an important outlet for journalists, and for people in general. It offers what blogs generally do – a voice. No bias. No one telling you to cut something out of what you want to say. It is a take on the media that often gets overlooked. It is teaching us to read between the lines.
Rathergate spawned from an incident involving CBS’ Dan Rather, when he made public false documents. The scandal of this shocked people, and shocks me. How can someone as credible as Dan Rather not take necessary steps to ensure the information he provides is completely accurate, without question?
I guess the only good that came out of it is that we can learn from Dan Rather’s mistakes. He can teach us to be better journalists through his faults.
One thing becomes apparent to me as I read Rathergate.com: I never want to live in the States, and I would never choose to work as a journalist in the States. The American election has caught the attention of many Canadians. Is it pathetic that we know more about the American election than we do the Canadian election? Who else is tired of flipping through the channels and seeing the way CNN reports on the election, and crisis situations in general? It seems we can’t escape it. It is everywhere.
I think Rathergate.com has a general message: Don’t trust everything you see. Question everything and develop your OWN opinion on what is going on in the world around you. As Canadians, we have many rights which people in other countries do not. We need to practice those rights and let our voices be heard.
