There are countless examples of the media failing the American public.
The most detrimental example of our time is the build up to the war in Iraq. If we would have had a properly functioning media at that point, it is likely that we would have never invaded that country.
However, hindsight is 20/20, and there are more recent examples of the media sticking its foot in its mouth and up the butt of America.
Last month, Fox Nation posted an article about a frustrated President Obama sending a 75,000 word email to the American people. It was a dramatic piece designed to illustrate Obama’s failing mental state. It was also originally written by The Onion, a satirical news site and it had zero factual information.
There was also a news story written about a man with the last name of Cummings who ejaculated on a TSA agent during a security pat down at the San Francisco International Airport. The story was picked up by media outlets in Germany and Dallas and disseminated across the web via blogs and social networking sites. This story was originally written by Dead Serious, another satirical news site.
Blantant examples like these, by some of the largest media conglomerates around, make me angry and embarrassed when I tell people I am a journalist. Yet, it is also these examples that reaffirm my belief that it is up to me, and my peers, to grab the industry by the hair, and drag it kicking and screaming back to respectability.
This belief is something I have tried to instill in the The Vista and its staff for two years. As college students it is easy for us to shrug off the seriousness of our roles within this publication and institution. Most of us are young, carefree and we don’t want to take too many things too serious. Nor should we. However, this paper and most importantly, our chosen career, is something that we should always hold above such sophomoric notions. Look what happens when we don’t.
We should take our time here seriously because we are only as good as our education, and our education is only as good as what we put into it. If we don’t at least take that serious, then we are wasting valuable time, money and energy.
This paper rarely gets the respect it deserves. I’ve sat through many classes where The Vista is ridiculed and critiqued with disdain and contempt by students, faculty and staff alike. Sometimes rightfully so, other times not. Regardless, my response has always been the same: what have you done to help? If you are a teacher, help educate the staff. Even if your field is science or something else completely unrelated to Mass Communication, help us learn. If a student criticizes The Vista, my response is sincere but always the same, “Thank you for your comments, we would love to have your help building this paper up to meet your standards. We cannot do it alone.”
To everyone at UCO, what are you doing to make things better? Whether as a student, a future worker in your chosen field of study, a Vista employee, an educator, or a UCO staff member, have you done anything other than the bare minimum lately? Have you done anything other than criticize? If not, you’re wasting time.
There have been many professors across the university that have helped, and many administrators that could not be more generous. There has also been times when, even with that help, The Vista has faltered. In the end we have come away better because of it, and that is the essence of education. For that, I thank you all.
However, to those who refuse to help us better ourselves, even though you are employed by an institution of higher learning, one that heartily thumps the bible of transformation and self-improvement, quit wasting our time. This is extended to those at the lowest level of administration and staff, all the way to those at the top. Give us an interview, treat us like adults, at least pretend you are happy to see us, realize we are different from the students before us and do your part to help us earn an education that is worth its weight in the money we pay. Regardless of your position on campus, you have a responsibility as a part of this institution to help students grow and learn.
This is my last issue as Editor-In-Chief of The Vista, with it I leave behind many emotions, many thankless hours, muttered complaints and yelled insults. I also leave behind more compliments and appreciation from people that I could not respect and admire more. I also leave behind the most enjoyable job I’ve ever had, and in my place remains the strongest staff the paper has seen since I’ve been here.
I also hope to leave behind a sense that we can all do more than what we are doing at any given second.
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