Reporters and Other Non-Productive Elements in Society

One of the most over-rated occupations in the mind of many rational, productive people is the news reporter. At the national level, the major network news reporter offers very little, if any, original thought on any subject, but is given the same respect that is given to some of the great minds and producers that exist in society. With respect to politics, it is not uncommon to hear different reporters using the identical terminology to describe an important political event, even among reporters at competing networks. This suggests to me that many well-known reporters must not really do any original investigation work to uncover the news that they report, but rather rely upon commentary provided by colleagues and inside political operatives for the message that they convey to their audience. What makes the modern news reporter even more counterproductive is the notion that most tend to operate on the basis of being independent-minded, or apolitical. In earlier years, most would agree that reporters did a better job at concealing their true political persuasions, and honestly tried to report the news objectively. But since the Nixon Presidency, many in the news media have elevated themselves to a plane that they consider to be equal to, or even greater than, the people that they are reporting on.

Commentators, by comparison, tend to openly espouse a particular ideology, and are often not afforded the same level of respect that reporters receive. This has always seemed backwards to me. Why should someone who takes the time to formulate original ideas not stand far above those who purportedly just report the news, when it comes to occupational respect and prestige? Reporters, in my mind, should be thought of as little more than second-handers, given that their primary aim in life is not to create or formulate anything which is original or new, but instead to simply talk about what other productive people are doing. And given that most of today's reporters are politically slanted in their reporting, albeit without acknowledging this fact, most of today's reporters are also blatantly dishonest. This is truly a shame, because the reporting profession is an important one to the extent that it was originally conceived.