TOW #10 - 2016's Biggest Loser

In Kathleen Parker’s article “2016’s Biggest Loser,” Parker writes about the failure of media after the election.  As said in paragraph two, only “18 percent of Americans trust national news and just 22 percent trust local news” (2).  This lack of trust could end up being detrimental to our society.  Parker especially emphasizes the fact that this lack of trust could ruin democracy.  Parker, who is an opinion writer, received a Pulitzer Prize and is constantly writing opinion pieces.  Since this piece is about journalism, she immediately establishes credibility since she is a journalist.  Her piece is written for other journalists and the ones in charge of big news businesses.  She is trying to tell them that in this time it is important to provide information that is trustworthy and not lie to viewers.  Parker’s article is relative to today because there are always false news stories circulating around the internet.  Although a lot of them can be political, there are occasion when it’s just random stories.  However, to those reading and being convinced by fake stories about people like senators, governors, or our President-Elect, the false information can be deadly to political views.  Which is why Parker makes it clear that this problem can ruin our democratic nation.  Parker is able to explain to readers the importance of trustworthy media through the use of statistics.  With an article aimed towards main business leaders and other writers, simple appeal to emotion may not be enough.  A statistic like “only 4 percent of Americans trust social media ‘a lot’ as a new source, a 30 percent trust it ‘some” (13), makes a big impact on a business leader.  This is because their audience is the nation.  If a majority of people do not trust a source and end up not even listening or watching this source (of news), the news business will fail.  Including this information makes businesses rethink their companies and encourage them to work towards a more reliable company, and keep them from losing viewers.  In today’s day an age, creating a news source that is reliable is extremely important.  Those who cannot create a storm of misinformation and can ruin a viewer’s trust in a business.  Parker’s article encourages new sources and journalists to remain honest in order to avoid the spread of lies and maintain an educated and level-headed population.