Comments on: The Truth. I need it.

By: links for 2009-12-27 | Aram on Mason

links for 2009-12-27 | Aram on Mason — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:40:00 +0000

[...] EricaAmerica – Blog Archive » The Truth. I need it. (tags: journalism truth) [...]

By: Raman

Raman — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:43:19 +0000

Hey Erica, I just wanted to say that your article was very refreshing. As someone who is studying to go into the journalism field I am always questioning what I hear on mainstream media. We rarely here the true facts of what is going on and why something is happening, usually most of the reports are filled with “analyst” opinions and news channels rarely give a insight into the true facts. Or hard news is overshadowed by soft news. It would be a refreshing sight to see journalists asking the hard questions. That’s what journalists are there for in my opinion to ask the hard questions and get answers so viewers can be best informed about an issue or topic at hand.

By: Jess Ferko

Jess Ferko — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:41:55 +0000

I was just at my in-laws’s house this week where they watch a lot of CNN and Fox news. The kind that runs 24/7. Since I don’t work at an office, I’ve found that my consumption of news has dwindled to my Google home page RSS feeds and what my network tells me on Twitter and Mashable. A sad story, isn’t it?

My point is that I have closed myself off from the outside news world over the last few years because everything seemed to be heavily tainted by the reporter’s political views. I would start getting worked up and then realized that I probably didn’t have all the facts and that if I wanted to really be informed, I would have to do the work of a reporter myself.

Like you, my day job and family life are enough for me without trying to figure out the political truths of the world. As a consumer, I would welcome more truth in reporting!

Nicely put Erica, keep them coming!

By: Ricki Mac

Ricki Mac — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:46:21 +0000

AMEN. I haven’t felt this passionate about the industry for quite awhile. When was journalism ever supposed to be scared of big biz? I thought that was the whole point…to tell the truth and not to be put off by what people WANT to hear. What happened to the greats like Walter Cronkite and Barbra Walters asking the questions that mattered most. Where did all of the gumption go? From a young female journalist to the other, way to put it out there. We all ‘needed it!’

By: Start Loving

Start Loving — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:07:49 +0000

One other point. If, in a world as lost, as degenerated as ours (clinical fact), IF one is popular / wealthy / famous / “successful”… then one is meaningless. Barack Obama is the only exception that comes to mind. We need a raging fire of Truth, where there IS no truth now. FIRES START SMALL, or they don’t start. “[Whoever] would give light must endure burning.” Eleanor Roosevelt / Victor Frankl

By: Start Loving

Start Loving — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:01:30 +0000

Oh my gosh!!! Erica, this rarely happens to me. Each next sentence in this post was the sentence I HOPED you were going to write! Brava! Weren’t you smiling as we spoke in front of the White House? Weren’t you thinking… ‘hey Start, just shut up and read my blog?” :-)

The central question in life, by whatever words is: am I going go for 1. wealth of stuff or 2. wealth of meaningfulness? EVERYONE that we deeply revere, admire, Truly ENVY chose door number 2. EVERYONE. THEY alone Lived. THEY alone had Joy. THEY alone had LIFE. Helen Thomas LIVES, and the other drones merely exist. Pitiful. (Amy Goodman lives.)

Yes, watch the Matrix. The central question in life then is – do you want to Exist IN the Matrix, or LIVE outside?

Your brother, Start

By: Mary Beth

Mary Beth — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:54:51 +0000

Very nice article. You express how I have been feeling for YEARS less the working as a journalist part.
I have always wondered how I could KNOW they would not find WMD but the press didn’t (won a few lunches and more than a few dollars on that bet) There are very few true journalist left. Helen, of course, being one. But when respected journalists like Ms. Thomas are ignored at press conferences; or are rampantly and wrongly accused of plagiarism, like Maureen Dowd, to discredit those that refuse to spin, we are in serious trouble.
Don’t give up, Erica. I look forward to your reports. You WILL succeed, you WILL find your place and even if it doesn’t make you rich it will make you a living. I have no doubt!!

By: Molly Horan

Molly Horan — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:53:07 +0000

I am hard up for original content right now, too, because I’m at my desk losing hair over what I’m going to do next.

So I’m going to spin THIS, god damnit, because I COULD NOT have POSSIBLY said it better myself.

By: Evan Summers

Evan Summers — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:52:10 +0000

That seriously is one of the most direct and scathing insight on the state of the industry that I’ve read in a long time. Well done. The CNN Producer’s statement is gut wrenching.

I’ve had several of my friends, yourself included, go into journalism and I wonder, “These people are idiots OR these people will change the world.” Only time will tell where Web 2.0 will take us. I just know that when it does get mainstream traction that I’ll have you on the ground floor.

Keep it up. Stay drain. Stay exhausted. Stay frustrated. You may not be able to do this forever so get it in now.