Loyalty and Journalism

Who is a journalist loyal to? That was a questioned posed and mostly answered in my COMMS 239 class a couple of weeks ago. The group who presented made a very tasty treat to illustrate loyalty. Ever had the treat "puppy chow?" It was delicious. They made some and told us since dogs are loyal, it was a good representation of loyalty, the topic of their presentation. I was introduced to a new term in class. Its Nihilism. What is it exactly? They explained it as a belief in absolutely nothing. When it comes to journalism, its a belief in not believing anything so there is no bias or opinion. Its another way of saying that journalists shouldn't believe in anything so they have no opinion on a topic. Even though the idea is good about not having options or bias for a journalist, I think to have a journalist not believe in anything is ridiculous.
Have you ever thought of this: "Citizens should be thought of as consumers, but never customers because the news is provided free to the public and is often "sold" at a loss?" I never really thought of it like that, but when I sit down and think about it, it makes sense. We all consume news/media, in one form or another, but we don't pay for it (most of the time) and no profit is made (most of the time) so we (citizens) can't be considered customers. Think about that.
I think one thought that sums up the discussion would be: the most important priority is to the citizens. One interesting fact that I learned is that half of the journalistic leaders interviewed say they spend at least a third of their time on business matters, rather than on journalism. As an ending remark, I would just like to agree with a statement by Nick Clooney, a former newscaster who said, "If it comes down to a question of loyalty, my loyalty will be to the person who turns on the television set.."

Recent news: Have you heard about what has happend over President Packer's talk during general conference? It has caused a lot of disucssion and chaos. It has created a Facebook group, among other things. Here is a link to an article and video of the church's stance of the petition that was presented from the human rights campaign.
http://tinyurl.com/2ehzn4r

On a happier note, here is a link to a hilarious You-tube video showing what some news anchors do during commercial breaks. Its funny.
http://tinyurl.com/2fya8mf