To post good stories, a journalist needs direct access to sources, powerful politicians and others who form a power couple. One spouse is a politician and the other is a media person or perhaps part of the permanent establishment (foundations, charities, legacy families).
These journalists are parrots for the ones in power, because factual reporting would end their access. If someone wants to be independent, he is suddenly only a pool reporter or perhaps the stringer assigned to Silvis, Illinois. Naturally, the ones in power want everything reported their way.
TV news depends on print news for its stories, so the television stars are little more than attractive people reading the public relations summaries. Media people become trapped by the size of their salaries, plus the need to keep up tuition payments at St. George's Private Academy, the car dealership, and the club where so many gather and provide stories.
The Internet has facilitated the reporting of facts and opinions outside the censorship of the established power brokers. Someone might pursue all the documents out there connected to Anderson Cooper or George H. W. Bush.
Many times I have thought, "This is the official story, but it sounds like a well-cooked press release, too convenient." One example was Hillary Clinton's collapse after the 9/11 ceremony during her failed campaign. Dehydration? The video suggested something else. The way her helpers surrounded the collapse to hide it from view - that was smoother than a Notre Dame mass, the way they glid into place without signals.
I am not going to deliver a bunch of shocking truths. My only purpose is to challenge people to look beyond the manufactured news - world, national, synodical - to examine the facts.
Good research does not come from one particular source but from curiosity. My generation lacks curiosity and spine. The young adults seem unhitched from the established media, which is why print newspapers are almost extinct.
