Be Creative! Be.... A Journalist

Over the course of the week I have realized four things:

1. Some journalists run on the idea of sensationalizing everything. (Sensationalize? What? E.g., recall one of those cheesy classroom games our social studies teachers hold to emphasize a point in their lectures: the one called Pass the Message, where we line up and relay messages to the last student. The winning group is the one whose unluckiest member recites the message verbatim. During the game, each person remembers the message differently depending on which part interests him or her the most. It is practically impossible to recite the whole message word for word, especially with the time limit, so the whole story is bogus and blown up by the time it is recited - unless, of course, the students have Asperger's syndrome.)


2. They do that because they need to support themselves, and to support themselves they need money, and to find money they need to write something that could sell. What would be a better story than a story that is about sex, which is every conservative's favorite immoral topic? Conservatives account for (probably) around sixty percent of the media audience, so how could they not take advantage of that?


3. It is even more scandalous if the people involved are minors. Mention the word and everyone comes clamoring about justice and morality and religion. The word minor provokes this motherly instinct hidden (deep, in some cases) within the psyches of normal human beings, be they male or female. Suddenly, people who never actually cared about acid throwing incidents in South Asia are advocates of women and child rights.


4. Most people will believe anything the media presents.

Right now, in a better and less complicated alternate world, I would be studying to be a journalist or a writer; and yes, I have the utmost respect for these people. In fact, most of the people in my to-meet list (I shamefully admit that I own and maintain such a thing) are writers - though the whole purpose of the list has been defeated ages ago because some of them are dead. I am very sad because some people who call themselves "journalists" are shallow enough to think that manipulating facts in their reports would propel their careers.

But, hey, what do I know? I'm a Chemistry major.