Column: A bleak but hopeful outlook for journalism

by Evelyn Cutting

Democratic Party chair Raymond Buckley believes that whether the relationship between journalism and politics gets better or worse depends on the younger generation.

I agree. It is up to my generation to step forward and create a solution to distrust in the media.

Buckley was speaking to fourteen students from the Presidency and the Press program on Tuesday, in Concord N.H. He has been chair of the party since 2007.   

Buckley is upset with the current state of the media. “My heart wants to see an end to this madness, but my brain says it may only get very worse. I have no answer,” he said.

He is saddened to see the growing distrust in the media and feels as though “[Generation Z] has a much harder time picking out truths from falsehoods in their media.”

But I am not discouraged. I see many people my age already pointing out fake news where they see it. They are stepping up to correct others who may have accidentally shared false information, often with younger siblings or older relatives.

They are comparing news articles to determine the facts. To combat bias, they are finding new media platforms and using multiple sources. They’re fact checking these sources for accuracy. More of my generation need to be doing this, but we’re on the right path.  

My generation has realized that we have to do our own, sometimes intensive, research before we can believe the majority of the news we receive. It’s left up to us to continue to search for a solution.