Responsibility (n)

The state, quality, or fact of being characterized by good judgment or sound thinking.

A simple word, one which we all talk about, and one which is expected of everyone, especially those who have the power of influence. It is also a word that just could not be used without flinching this past week. This has been one quality that has been shown in such poor light recently.

Look at the media. They have been a complete failure. They know the power that they wield. A single line mentioned on the news, can lead to panic running through everybody's mind. Yet, they failed in the most basic of rules of the media. Verify your sources, and confirm your story before broadcasting. A retraction, or an apology, no matter how soon after the remark, will not have the impact as the damage will already have been done. But these news channels, all they cared about was ratings.

A shocking part of these days was the lack of thought by reporters. No matter what the situation, applying common sense always helps. I can't imagine what they were thinking when they openly narrated military strategy for all the viewers. Don't you think, the very people who are being targeted watch TV, or have access to people who do? What were you thinking? In the drive to "make the public aware", a line was crossed. There is such a thing as too much information. Responsible journalism knows where that line gets drawn, and will never cross it. This was just dumb and irresponsible. But the media, all it cared about was ratings.

These tragic series of events have brought many things to the forefront of people's thoughts. The call for change, the desire for cleansing, the anger of actions. But one of these doesn't get as much coverage, it cant. We need to work on the immaturity of our journalists. They need to know how to act responsibly.