It is not uncommon to hear a pseudo-intellectual complain that, in this day and age, journalism is dying. They lament that readership is falling, fewer new media companies are being made and all-around interest in the media is on the decline.

They are entirely right.

And this, despite what they say, is a good thing.

Many supporters of the media are quick to hail its role as defender and informer of the people, bringing corrupt men to justice, warning consumers of dangers and championing the cause of the common man.

However, how much of that is really true?

The Watergate scandal is the go-to example used by defenders of the dying institution, but rarely do they point out that this occurred over fifty years ago. Computers still took up city blocks and Alaska and Hawaii were new states. Times have changed.

The most recent comparable event to the Watergate scandal is the Snowden leak of 2013. That was not discovered by journalists; it was a man working at the NSA who leaked information that then was picked up by the media.

The media is not the investigative justice-bringer so many see it as.

It is all too often more similar to reality TV than a true account of what events have happened.

Most of the space on modern media sites is filled with sensationalized headlines, designed to entertain their readers.

The priorities of news organizations have changed. Their first priority is to scrape together what little readership they can, make money and then, finally, spread correct information.

Another flaw of the news is its constant portrayal of stories as individual events, entirely separate from anything before or after. Simply put, that isn’t how the world works.

Stories will show one political issue as an entirely solitary event pitting people against each other, which is a far more interesting narrative than a story of political discourse over decades.

People should immediately stop reading the news. Bias abounds, incorrect information is much more common than the organizations would have you believe and the main purpose is to entertain, not to teach.

Instead of trusting the news as a deceitful middleman, people should do research themselves. Take information straight from the source with no filter of the media to dilute or block the message.

Media organizations have proven time and time again that they cannot be entrusted with the responsibilities society has given to them.

Criticism of the news is common. Yet it still remains a sacred cow of sorts. People always lift it up on a throne and fiercely defend it even though increasingly the focus is on getting readers, usually at the expense of important topics that need to be discussed.