I've gotten into a habit while watching documentaries: if the first word is "I" I stop and delete the episode. PBS programs have gotten particularly bad at doing this, programs like Frontline and NOVA. This habit developed over the course of 20 years. It didn't matter what followed, nor how interesting the topic was to me, the "reporting" always devolved into opinion and I stopped before the end and deleted the episode. It's gotten quite common lately, as in every episode of Frontline and most episodes of NOVA.

Gallup Polling released a poll today on the trust Americans place in the news. It was not good news for the reporting industry. More Americans have no faith in the news than have complete faith in the news.

34 percent is all the news can muster who trust their reporting. It's not an accident that it's so poor, it's a consequence. Were I a journalism student I'd abandon the field. How messed up does reporting need to be to garner that amount of distrust, when all you need to do is be accurate and complete?

It's not the students, nor the individuals, it's the industry and what drives it. Advertising and political favors drive the industry. And editors who let reporters opinion into the story. It's the opinion that rankles me the most.

They are going to require a major fix if the news is ever going to gain back the cache of "trustworthy." Until then, editors can get rid of the opinion. It's too easy to put in a story, and slide past the gullible who share the opinion, rather than work to discover what's really going on. 

At least get rid of every "I" that your reporter writes.