Sometimes during a long week you catch yourself complaining about all the little things that went wrong in your own life and then the nightly news has a way of putting it all into perspective. It is hard to cry about spilling raspberry jam all down your new white sweater when you hear about lead tainted water impacting the people of an entire city.
Tonight it was shocking to see developments surrounding this exact story playing out while tuning in for a segment on a masterful news program - The Rachel Maddow Show. Harsh critics say that the media is biased and uninformed, but anyone who faults the world of news as whole should check out the below video, which is a shining example of dedicated journalists doing the work.
Over the last couple years, and still now, the people of Flint, Mich. have been drinking water that contains high levels of lead. This is especially bad for children, whose developing bodies could now forever be effected by the toxins. It gets worse - it appears that the government of Michigan knew all about it.
Someone other than Erin Brokovich has been on the case:
Fans of her show already admire the way Rachel Maddow and her crew are consistently highlighting events other news agencies have yet to cover. The crisis in Flint has become a huge news story in the last couple days, but her show was on the story far before others caught on.
The people working on Maddow dig deep into stories, do extensive research, and expand on all the details, all while making connections that reveal injustices. They are not focused on being biased - it is all about presenting real information and finding the truth.
This is what makes journalism great and why we need it in order to thrive in society. Hosts of the other various cable news shows are given an hour or more each day, but few use the opportunity to do more than just retell the same "Breaking News" stories that every other agency has already discussed to death. There should be more facts and less opinions.
We live in a time when everything that comes out of a politician's mouth has to be fact-checked. It is frustrating trying to dig through all the information out there in the world, while also trying to keep up with what is real and what is fake. One thing that should make us all feel better - as long as people like Maddow are on the air, journalism has a face of someone that can be trusted.
Until next time.
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