Bias in the News

I think that Linn Jr. Washington made some very valid points in his article entitled "Facts, Fallacies, and Fears of Tabloidization." I feel that as a journalist I am constantly caught in the struggle between reporting unbiased and objective stories of events and telling the fun and exciting sensationalized story. Especially as someone who wants to work in television news - television lives on sensationalism. How does the news manage to combat this idea and try to report as objectively and nonbiased as possible? "Today," says Washington, "the wall between the so-called fact-based standards of mainstream journalism and the 'never-let-facts-stand-in-the-way-of-a-good-story' standards associated with tabloid journalism is porous." (Washington, p.1). I think this is a very valid and relevant point. Why are journalists blending the line between good solid hard news reporting and soft news tabloid-like reporting? As I mentioned earlier, perhaps it has to do with television's sensational aspect. We as a nation are becoming more and more desensitized to violence and gore. But is this because of journalistic practices of sensationalizing the War in Iraq by showing horribly gruesome footage night after night on network television? I think that bias is something that is very hard to fight from a journalistic perspective - especially in an age where sensationalism sells. People like excitement and entertainment, what better way is there to sell news than making it exciting and entertaining? Form a business perspective it's genuis, but from a journalistic standpoint something needs to be done to change these practices in the mainstream media.