How 'fake' is the media? - time to be less defensive and take a hard look

As a journalist for several decades, I've prided myself in always reporting the truth. Then I heard Carl Bernstein explain that a good journalist tells "the best version" of the truth. I decided to edit my response to that question, so much so that when a young journalist asked me about my approach to this profession, I mimicked Bernstein.

Then I read her paper, elegantly written and beautifully conceived. When I saw what I had said - I was not misquoted - I thought that "the best version" just isn't good enough.

If you're not a journalist, let me explain what goes on in news rooms and what news itself is. News is not a synopsis about the day your child brought home a B+ in Math, your family ate Hamburger Helper, the laundry had to be redone because the washer's acting funky, and Aunt Margaret dropped by unexpectedly. No - the news is that your genius child, aged 5, has advanced to high school math, invented a new social media app that has brought him to the attention of Apple's Tim Cook, and Aunt Margaret is dating Justin Bieber, which is what she came by to tell you, and TMZ is camped out outside.

I remember hearing "if it bleeds, it leads" and thinking that was just fine. But after all these years, constantly hearing from editors, "yes, but is it news?" or "where's the news?" I'm growing more and more skeptical about the news. That is not to say I support Trump's mantra about "fake" news. But I understand why his many supporters also support his view that news is fake, the media is fake, dishonest.

Part of the problem is the Internet. If we reporters report for online media, someone is watching to see how many page views a story gets. I interviewed for a job a few years ago in which I was told I would be rated by this measure. At the time it smacked of PR, I had no interest, wouldn't stoop so low. Flash forward a few years and the very publication for which I was writing used the same measure. It was not the sole measure, but stories that drew over 5,000 sets of eyeballs were valued well in Corporate.

This concerned me, and perhaps led me to the decision I made a few years ago to attend graduate school abroad. I would not get my M.A. in journalism, but another subject, one that could fill me with knowledge and ideas and help set a framework for better analyzing the changes in my profession. I fear that in the next few years, publications will be under so much pressure that the only barometer they'll use to keep or disgard staff will be that person's page views. And once emojis and infographics are proven to be more powerful draws than words, words will be pared to the minimum.

It's imperative that reporters and editors, whether at trades or standard publications, keep their heads and integrity in the roiling climate of the news business. I won't lie - I was proud when one of my stories was in the top three recently. But I would be prouder if I won the Pulitzer one day for deep, true, investigative reporting.

PHOTO: The reporter on assignment at Georgetown University, June 2017