Journalism and history, particularly in recent centuries, have built off of each other since people have had the freedom to report what was really happening in the world. With scandals such as Watergate and the use of muckrakers to dig deep into corruption, journalism has been around to inform the public of everything the government would have otherwise been quick to hide to save face for those involved. Yet in the same sense history has made journalism what it is today because people are inherently curious; without it nothing would ever happen because no one would wonder “what” or “how”?

All the President’s Men is a gripping narrative of the Watergate scandal that captivates the audience through tension, a compelling story line, and an exciting new way to tell a story that broke world news. The reluctant interactions between Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they crack the case behind the original “gate” scandal. The interactions between Deep Throat and Woodward throughout the film create a thought provoking environment and a deeper level of discovery for the audience. Metaphors, secret meetups, and subtle and scarce communications really drove home just how colluded the scandal had become traveling upwards from burglars with CIA ties, through the Republican Party, and finally to the desk of President Nixon himself.

The story of Cizitenfour follows the revelations that Edward Snowden makes regarding the United States vast surveillance networks since 2013. These groundbreaking discoveries and leaks are released during the time of filming while Snowden, in part with several others there to document the release and reactions, in a hotel in Hong Kong over eight days. It is captivating, inviting, and eye opening about the dark realities of the US government; it makes you wonder what else we may not know. Its speaks to the director to be able to tell the story so complex and technologically intense understandable to the common public. The name itself, which was picked by Snowden, has political reasons that leave the role of whistle-blower open to the next person who feels as though the American public deserves to know the truth. Snowden knows he is not the last and is not the last, he only occupied the spot for a short time. The telling of this already intense part of history is coupled with great storytelling in an almost spy-thriller sense with the use of encrypted emails, delivered by Glenn Greenwald, and the help of another, Laura Poitras, to decrypt these messages. With fire alarms going off unannounced, the ability to bug phones and other technologies, and the use of the “mantle of power”, a cloak draped over both Snowden and his computer as to disrupt technologies access to him, creates a tense scene that causes the audience to become just as paranoid as those in the room. In an otherwise boring setting of a hotel room, Poitras does a phenomenal job at creating an exciting movie throughout.

Journalism at its truest form, deep down at it’s core, is a beautiful thing. Unique and fair, it tells the factual and unbiased story of a recent event for the public to become informed and formulate their own opinions. So why is it that in today’s modern age most major news outlets show clear bias to influence the public; and if you are to say this is untrue then why would people label news outlets as “liberal” or “conservative”? News should just be the same stories told with different sources, facts don’t change. Journalism is a great thing on paper. But in practice, even Business Insider confirms that major news outlets lean towards a more liberal or conservative stance. Maybe it’s just a pessimistic viewpoint but the media is changing and major news media needs to try stay impartial and deliver only the facts if they hope to stay current and relevant, or else they’re on their way to being replaced. There are always going to be difficulties working in such a bias-free environment but journalism isn’t meant to be easy and it sure isn’t for everyone. But to contrast the idea of media swaying to either side of the political playing field, there was also an exponential increase in the number of media outlets making it easier than ever to encapsulate oneself in a bubble of media that agrees with their ideals. This only leads to further separation as the Washington Post discovers that people believe their outlets are fair and objective while the “opposition” is biased. Its hard to say who is to blame for the downfall of journalism, journalists or their publics, but I can say with confidence that I feel a journalistic enlightenment emerging after this period of separation and distrust among outlets and their audiences.

The 2003 film Shattered Glass has a unique story line based on a true story that follows journalist Stephen Glass through his disruptive downfall during his time at the New Republic. I thought that the movie was a great portrayal of crooked journalism with no account for media ethics and codes. Glass’ fabrications, depict and ultimate downfall are foreshadowed since the beginning of the movie as he lies to his editor, Chuck, about there being alcohol in his hotel room during a Republican convention, one small hiccup that snowballs into his eventual career collapse. As Glass breaks open a huge story about a hacker being bought out by the company Jukt Micronics in order to prevent him from further hacking their site, a reporter at Forbes, Alex, is berated for not also catching the story and looks into the story to realize it is fabricated by Glass. The movie makes interesting comments on accountability and reliability because although Chuck, the editor, is a stickler for fact checking and truth, he manages to let several of Glass’ stories slip past because of Glass’ ability to sell his news stories. Likability and charm are a major part in Glass’ success, but these are irrelevant when looking at the facts of the case from an outside source.

After spending seven out of the thirteen weekends of his presidency at Mar-a-Largo in Pam beach, Florida, NBC investigators uncovered that President Donald Trump has managed to spend an estimated $3 million per trip with a total cost of estimating $21 million to taxpayers. How can it be that in less than a few months President Trump has been able to spend so many days away that he has now surpassed Barrack Obama in personal retreat days? For someone who was so critical of the former president and his spending habits while a civilian, the president seems to have to taken it upon himself to go back on his former statements saying “What’s better than the White House? Why these vacations?” Clearly there is a reason for vacations away from the White House; it is a high stress, work related environment which, as I can recall, the president volunteers to enter for at least four years. I understand that President Trump may be working while on his retreats, like during his summit with Chinese President Xi, but it is wholly unnecessary to be traveling so often and costing taxpayers millions in unnecessary costs when going on the retreat is not absolutely needed.

In Sunday’s election for Serbian Prime Minister, Progressive Party Aleksandar Vučić

Streets of Belgrade, Serbia protesting media blackout. Provided by Reddit user /u/CrispyVan.

won despite the parties outspoken dislike of journalists, the public, and international organizations that speak out against the control of the Serbian media. Despite countries being allowed to have different, the Serbian government has been outing major media outlets that speak negatively of the government, which is a direct violation of free media. Media suppression is a serious issue when manipulative government parties come into power because it leads to riots and protests. Yet, many people don’t hear about these acts because of the same corruption and manipulation that is being protested! Its shameful to live in a time of such open media yet have basic rights to open communications revoked over a reckless and controlling government  who would rather cause media blackouts in reaction to civil unrest than communicate and come to a civil agreement with those who are upset.

In a multimedia posting, the liberal blog Crooks and Lairs talks about the reality of what it really means for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to be replaced by Trumpcare. The agenda is pretty clear; it is going to cause low income housing helped by the ACA to afford insurance be bumped out of the running for health care as premiums skyrocket. Whats even worse is when those who can no longer afford it drop their health care provider, premiums again will rise due to the price be scaled by the number of people on the health program. This is effectively giving low income houses no feasible way to get covered.

Funny enough, the low income communities who voted in President Trump are the same communities who are the most impacted by this loss, all the while the big business owners Trump promised to crack down on will feel almost none of the impact of this bill. House Speaker Paul Ryan made it very clear that the administration and the party do not want to come out with exact figures on how this is going to effect those helped by the ACA. Ryan sees this as an act of freedom, unsurprisingly, because now those who don’t want cheap and available insurance won’t be penalized for not having it, rather those who try to leave their insurance under Trumpcare would be penalized. We all know how much we hate having an affordable healthcare system for everyone!

President Donald Trump creates controversy this past weekend over tweets passing passive-aggressive remarks about new DNC chairman Thomas Perez, the White House Correspondents Dinner, and the NY Times Oscar ads. Even though Trump came to speak in a clearly biased view when he tweeted that he “could not be happier for [Perez], or for the Republican Party”, he proceeded to make negative tweets about Perez saying his election the chairman was “rigged”. In regards to the White House Correspondents Dinner, he tweeted that he would not be attending, and although the tweet was warmhearted Trump was clearly aware of his less than popular presence among his peers. Whilst trying to make a negative view of the New York Times and their Oscar ads, Trump actually provided free, earned media for the New York Times and their now viral ad about the separation of fake news from real and factually based news media.