Critique of the Summer: Violation of the Journalism Elements

  All too often are journalists prancing around as if they are untouched by the public eye, and as though the news media has no obligation to the general people. When covering certain events, there should be a series of steps taken to ensure the best possible route of raw journalism. However it appears to be in some cases, that certain journalists feel need to shirk their duties. Instead pursuing interests outside the common good. 

    A prominent example of one such act was on May 16, 2018, regarding President Trump and his talks of immigration. USA Today reported on this day that, "President Trump used extraordinarily harsh rhetoric to renew his call for stronger immigration laws Wednesday, calling undocumented immigrants 'animals'". Now there are multiple violations of the Elements of Journalism here. The article, titled, " Trump ramps up rhetoric on undocumented immigrants: 'These aren't people.These are animals," misleads readers and is an ignominy to the name of journalism. We must analyze the core facts that the truth, verification, and loyalty to the people appear to be missing from this article.

   To an unsuspecting reader who knows of Trump's background and language, this exclamation passes automatically as truth across the radar. Where's the surprise, right? Thus, leading the reader to assume that yes, President Trump did indeed call all undocumented immigrants animals. However, with further research, this statement is found fraud. It was taken out of context from his original statement at the California meeting. Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims had opened up about her agitation towards new laws that hinder I.C.E from capturing dangerous illegal immigrants, such as MS-13 gang members. In response to her, Trump spoke that, "You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't even people, these are animals, and we're taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that's never happened before." He spoke in reference of the MS-13 gang members, not undocumented immigrants as a whole. Later, President Trump even confirmed that," I'm referring, and you know I'm referring, to the MS-13 gangs that are coming in."

   USA Today did not provide readers with the truth, as news media should. Instead they deliberately took Trump's quote out of context and heavily inferred to the public that he was suggesting all undocumented immigrants were animals. This is a blatant lie and shows bias either against the President himself or the entire matter in general. These journalists also failed to meet the loyalty standard. Loyalty to the citizens and having credibility is key to your audience. However, the journalists of this article failed to be loyal towards their readers, instead choosing the path of personal agenda. By failing to meet the requirements of written truth, they were not loyal to the common good. They were loyal only to themselves,perhaps even an outside influence such a boss or shareholder that prodded for the bias. The final element of journalism these journalists so decided to violate was verification. To fail the verification process is to fail the whole point of news reporting. By not providing any sources to this conversation, or by having objective methods, this article was doomed from the start. 

  There are many a ways this article could be greatly improved. First off, Gregory Korte and Alan Gomez-the writers of this article- could have actually based their reporting on the truth. The news is to inform the reader, and therefore they should inform the reader that President Trump called MS-13 gang members animals. Not lying, not being shady about their sources, not misleading anyone or having bias, as a real news coverage should be. They could talk about the growing crisis of MS-13 members mingled in with other undocumented immigrants, proving dangerous to everyone around them. Another way to exceed the journalism standards would be to link the video of the Sheriff and Trumps' conversation, or maybe even the entire round table conference. This allows the audience to dictate ideas for themselves. 

   Sources:  https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/617252002 

                    https://abc30.com/politics/sheriff-mims-discusses-santuary-laws-with-president/3483814/