The Comments Section: Journalism

What happened to simply reporting on events without adding opinions into the narrative? What happened to people thinking for themselves, rather than picking and choosing opinions that other people express?

Here are some news headline examples. The before is the actual headline, and the after is what I believe it should be changed to in order to remain unbiased and purely informative.

• Before:
• "Under Trump's watch, national debt tops $21 trillion for first time ever." -CBS News
• After:
• "National debt reaches $21 trillion."
• Before:
• "Trump began the week tweeting about the border. Now he's sending troops." -CNN
• After:
• "National guard to be deployed to southern border."

Headlines are being worded to provoke outrage and solidify existing opinions. It's subtle, but it's manipulative enough to cause problems and undermine democracy.

News should be purely about informing the public, not about implying how to think or feel about something. Nearly every major news network in the US breaks the journalism code of ethics on an almost daily basis with misleading headlines and articles that lack sources.

What's the point of having a code of ethics if there's no penalty for breaking it?