{"id":297513,"date":"2017-02-28T14:23:24","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T21:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=297513"},"modified":"2017-02-28T14:23:38","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T21:23:38","slug":"why-the-homeless-albuquerque-and-america-need-the-opposition-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/02\/why-the-homeless-albuquerque-and-america-need-the-opposition-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the homeless, Albuquerque and America need the ‘opposition party’"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:<\/strong>\u00a0There\u2019s a tendency to \u201cwrite off\u201d some professions. It\u2019s a very bad habit. For years, victims have included used car salesmen and preachers. Now the media have joined that \u201celite\u201d list.<\/p>\n

\"Jeremy

Courtesy photo<\/p>

Jeremy Reynalds<\/p><\/div>\n

The media were recently derisively referred to as the country\u2019s “opposition party.”<\/a>\u00a0This is a tragic lowering of our country\u2019s level of social discourse, and will do nothing except possibly perpetrate irreversible societal damage.<\/p>\n

In our openly divided and fractionalized culture, those who contribute to all this online verbal viciousness (or perhaps cannibalism is a better word) appear, from the anger of their posts, to have inhaled or imbibed massive doses of digital \u201ccourage.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that in mind, I think it would be positive for us as a community to have a \u201clet\u2019s be nice to media\u201d day. Can you imagine how someone in a local newsroom would feel if you called their station and said something like, \u201cI\u2019m one of your viewers (readers or listeners), and I wanted to thank you for the service you provide our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The newsroom employee may faint, but I\u2019m confident you would cause a change for the better in a typically cynical and frenetic newsroom.<\/p>\n

After suggesting we start this \u201clet\u2019s be nice to media\u201d day on a recent Facebook post and asking people what they would do without the media to learn about social ills and their overall contextualization, some people\u2019s digital courage and lead-weighted fingers started pecking away feverishly on their keyboard.<\/p>\n

But why is the head of a homeless shelter so interested in and supportive of the media? Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

My Ph.D. dissertation<\/a>\u00a0dealt with how the media \u2014 and by \u201cmedia\u201d I mean print, radio, television, and Internet news sources, both local and national \u2014 portray the homeless. I soon came to see that many people base their perception of the homeless (and many other things) on what they see, hear or read.<\/p>\n

While there are certainly some stereotypes of the homeless presented in the media as well as some inaccuracies, they are mistakes and in most cases not attempts to slant the coverage. And what would you suggest as an alternative?<\/p>\n

For a number of reasons, many people are unable to visit local food banks or missions, and they rely on the media to be their ears and eyes. Trash the media and you will ultimately further hurt the plight of those most unable to defend themselves. You will end up with a culture that is even more cynical and jaded than it is now, in which people believe nothing anyone says is true unless that point of view agrees with their own.<\/p>\n

Let me give you an example. Some totally fake news has been making the rounds stating that President Obama is being billed for his \u00a0\u201cvacation scam.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Tragically, this falsehood is being shared and disseminated by individuals who routinely bash legitimate news organizations such as CNN,\u00a0The Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>. These individuals make a habit of dubbing the reports from well-respected news sources as \u00a0\u201cfake news.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and yet they portray obvious\u00a0real\u00a0<\/em>fake news, such as in my example, as truth. If the false story in my example reinforces a person\u2019s point of view about Obama, that person may share it without investigating whether it was true.<\/p>\n

My undergraduate academic training is in journalism, and during that period I wrote for the University of New Mexico\u00a0Daily Lobo\u00a0<\/em>and worked in a number of area newsrooms, both as an intern and as a paid employee. I never saw any attempt to slant the news or present a one-sided story. What I observed over and over was a number of committed and talented individuals who wanted to tell both sides of the story and let viewers know what was going on in the community.<\/p>\n

An article by a former TV reporter<\/a>\u00a0does a great job of explaining what the media really do. Here\u2019s one comment: \u201cA reporter doesn\u2019t write something and go on-air with it because it sounds good. The photographer is involved. A producer goes through it. Then, a managing editor checks it. Sometimes even more people will sign off on something before it makes air. … That\u2019s what helps tell a balanced story, even if it\u2019s not what you believe.\u201d Please read additional comments from this experienced reporter with an open mind.<\/p>\n

As I have dealt with Albuquerque\u2019s media for over three decades, I have seen that same pattern continue. However, that dedication to duty is apparently lost on people who responded to my Facebook post. I received comments that were angry, troubling, and bordering on the delusional.<\/p>\n

Here is part of what Franlou wrote: \u201cThe lying media needs to be returned to what it was in the \u201860s. Now they are just a tool of the left and out to destroy anything that doesn\u2019t fit their agenda. I know you spend your Sundays on the radio<\/a>, and I even listen, but if you are going to support the drive-by media then myself and my friends will no longer support you.\u201d<\/p>\n

A request to Franlou for clarification has gone unanswered.<\/p>\n

This was another \u201cinteresting\u201d comment. Larry wrote, \u201cThe media only report what they want to. It\u2019s mostly fake news so they can stir up trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tesa said, \u201cIt would be a good idea for Joy Junction to get out of politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the answer to Tesa. We are not in politics. We do not do political advocacy. However, we do advocate for or against issues when carrying out of those issues has helped or could hurt the homeless.\u00a0Please look at our website<\/a>\u00a0to find examples of what is important to us.<\/p>\n

Just had to share this one. Marty wrote, \u201cIt isn\u2019t all the media \u2014 just the liberal media like the (NBC)\u00a0Today Show<\/em>\u00a0and Matt Lauer that chap my hide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another one that made me chuckle. Jamie suggested, \u201cI think if they operated on compassion and not ratings, it would be different.\u201d How so? Try telling that to company bosses, shareholders and more. For better or for worse, news organizations are businesses.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re still convinced that the media are biased and lying, then formulate a diverse point of view by listening to or watching various news sources. Just don\u2019t tell me they all colluded together. It doesn\u2019t happen \u2014 really!<\/p>\n

Here are some news outlets you could check out and compare: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Al Jazeera English, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, Reuters, AFP, The Associated Press, Britain\u2019s\u00a0Daily Mail<\/em>,\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>, CBN News, and many more.<\/p>\n

Former New Mexico Secretary of Corrections Gregg Marcantel summed up what\u2019s currently happening pretty well. He commented, \u201cOver-generalizations have affected those you passionately serve and my own profession for as long as I can remember. It\u2019s one of the greatest human reasoning errors known.\u201d<\/p>\n

So anyone up for a \u201clet\u2019s be nice to media\u201d day? If you\u2019re not, then what personal agenda are you possibly hanging onto? Just remember that love and civility always trump hate \u2014 hands down.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Reynalds<\/a> is founder and CEO of Joy Junction Inc., a\u00a0faith-based nonprofit church organization dedicated to helping homeless men, women, children, and families in Albuquerque by providing food, clothing, shelter, and safety.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is anyone up for a \u201clet\u2019s be nice to media\u201d day?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[3307,3268,134],"class_list":["post-297513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-donald-trump","tag-journalism","tag-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}