Staff
Whether you believe it or not, the press is here to help.
If journalists didn’t report on government, natural disasters or county fairs, how would you know about them?
The press tries its best to gather information and turn it over to the people, so they can make informed decisions or just dinner plans.
Journalists work hard to put the all the information together in a complete and understandable story. Photojournalists work equally hard capturing images to present a clearer picture.
Regardless if the purpose of a story or photo is for entertainment, exposing governmental wrongdoing or remembering a person’s life through an obituary, the press is trying to help the public be informed.
In 1887, journalist Nellie Bly committed herself for 10 days to a mental asylum because she wanted to expose the terrible treatment and conditions.
Her articles changed the way mental health care operated and made the field more professional.
Journalism is full of examples of written words changing the world we live in.
Not every story or photo has such a polarized outcome, but the effect is the same.
In 2013, Associated Press photographer Jacquelyn Martin was taking photos of homeless people during Washington, D.C.’s, cold winter.
She snapped a photo of a young man lying on the sidewalk. He would only give the name Nick.
The photo was published in USA Today; a woman in upstate New York saw the photo and recognized the man as Nicholas Simmons, her missing son. The photo changed that mother’s world forever.
The media are not perfect, but their purpose is still to help the public by providing information people want or need.
