A critical systemic injustice in my daily life and explained by outside research is how United States citizens no longer have a source of national news to depend on that remains completely unsullied by politics. Long after 1788, politicians have achieved their goal of metamorphosing into actors, while Washington, D.C. has become the theater—a newfound source of embarrassing entertainment rather than a place wrought with wisdom to serve the people in peripheral and reasonable ways. The population being served is no longer center stage. People deserve national information that reports on what is happening in the country rather than what should happen or what ‘experts’ speculate to happen. Americans deserve some media that strictly covers actions, not extremely subjective personal observation or opinion, we already have enough blogs masked as news. In 2019, a news agency and market research company collaborated and found 44% of their roughly 1,541 poll responders had “hardly any confidence at all” in the press (Ipsos Public Affairs). More polls should be conducted at a larger scale with a similar purpose. I distinguished the lack of integrity within American media as a systemic injustice because major media institutions continue to directly impact how millions of citizens treat the systems which hold the logistical framework of the country together. How public information is disseminated should be considered as important as a human life because misleading, widespread information has lead to mental health impairments and has driven more susceptible, misguided souls to commit suicide in some cases. Just as you are technically not supposed to be in it for the money as a physician, you’re also not supposed to be in it for the money as the Chair of a journal, magazine, news, or social media company. Unfortunately, the most popular forms of modern American culture have tethered peoples’ choices to technology at concerning degrees, allowing media sources to warp how people think about power, identity, and injustice.
This issue of Truth is also a self-inflicted injustice because all the tools required to correct ourselves are already at our disposal. Is there a way for us to maintain politics and its benefits without all the dramatic acts? What would need to change for this wrong to be righted is a change in the current education system and for adults to have faith in their ability to shape the younger generation wisely. When children are educated, they are also being conditioned to critically think or not. “We are living in the age of… disappointment. Millennials and members of Gen Z have grown up… knowing nothing else. In the U.S. and elsewhere, this has produced a crisis of faith, across society but especially among the young. It has produced a crisis of trust” (Brooks). If the self-proclaimed ‘most powerful nation in the world’ ends up like the Roman Empire, the United States should at least collapse with grace over an issue more dignifying than incompetence.
Linked below is a video elaborating on the press poll conducted by Ipsos for Reuters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PflE6yIGtlQ
Works Cited
Brooks, David. “America Is Having a Moral Convulsion.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 5 Oct. 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/collapsing-levels-trust-are-devastating-america/616581/.
Ipsos Public Affairs. Ipsos Poll Conducted for Reuters Core Political Data. 15 May 2021, https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/2017-05/Core%20Political-Topline-2017-05-17.pdf.
Reuters and Ipsos. “New polling shows continued erosion of trust in mainstream media outlets.” YouTube, uploaded by The Hill, 1 March 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PflE6yIGtlQ.
Thank you for doing your showcase on this topic! It is important to recognize this issue as systemic injustice. As a young person, it is extremely hard to create your views and opinions on current events and controversial issues because every source is biased or not true. I loved the point you made saying “How public information is disseminated should be considered as important as a human life”. This is so true!! How information is spread effects each and every one of our lives even if we are not particular reading/watching the news. Thank you for expressing your passion for this topic. Change needs to happen or else the age of disappointment will continue on.