Many people are quick to judge. When something sounds wrong, they jump on the bandwagon and condemn it without learning the entire story. They even go so far as to develop strong opinions about it and argue the point based on what little information they have.

This issue is linked to the speed in which we receive things. Now that information is distributed 24/7, news corporations are racing against each other to get out stories as soon as possible. This is actually denigrating the quality of reporting we were once used to. Although reporting was occasionally biased before instant news became the standard, it was also more thorough. Now stories are like the tip of an iceberg, whereas reporters see a small part and extrapolate when they should really be investigating the whole thing altogether or waiting for enough information to develop a better understanding of the facts.

For example, The Clarion’s own writer Michael Padilla wrote an article on Invisible Children, the organization that brought awareness to Joseph Kony, abetting the cause. While the same day William J. Brown wrote in a feature article stating: “Invisible Children is under investigation currently due to the numerous rumors stating that the charity only puts 31 percent of profits toward the cause.” These two articles seemed to give contradictory information.  This shows that even journalists can jump to conclusions and not see all the facts at hand.

The responsibility to form an intelligent opinion now falls back on the readers. While in today’s Internet age, readers might hear about something and hastily stand up for it before the whole story is revealed. We all need to realize that not everything is as it first seems; researching from a reliable source is always a good place to start investigating.