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Journalism has always been used and misused by special interests that work hard at figuring out ways to sway coverage to their advantage. And while in the past it was possible to rely on much of the information disseminated by credible news organizations, these days it is increasingly difficult to believe what you read in the papers or what you see on TV.

When The New York Times, the self-proclaimed "paper of record," is so easily manipulated by government sources, as the Judy Miller case proved, it becomes that much harder to trust journalists.

Perhaps asking when journalism becomes fiction is the wrong question. That's because information is often so tainted, so manipulated and shaped by legions of handlers - publicists, marketing professionals, public relations specialists - who do nothing but work on the "image" and "message" of their employers that, out of the gate, the information is already a kind of fiction. And rather than challenge the information, whether it comes from a government or corporate entity, reporters too often simply regurgitate it with little or no attempt to verify facts.

As a result, journalism has become an ally of the very people it is supposed to keep in check, be they oval office or corner office occupants. And even if the information is coming from the hallowed halls of Congress, a state capitol or a corporate office, big business has become so intertwined with government that at times it's hard to tell one from the other.

There was a turning point in the 1990s at which journalists' mission of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable underwent a reversal. When news organizations became so focused on covering business, largely as a result of the impact technology was having on our daily lives, layoffs through the lens of the media became a good thing. When I was working in local papers, layoffs were bad. People would lose they jobs. People suffered.

When I became a business reporter in the mid 90s, layoffs were often spun as a positive story. Company executives would insist cutting workers, though painful, was necessary to put companies on the right track, to increase profits, to maximize shareholder value. Analysts would join the chorus, agreeing loudly that layoffs would produce good results on Wall Street.

I saw very little attempt by reporters, myself included, to seek out those workers who had just lost their jobs and ask them how they felt about the increased profitability and heightened shareholder value their eliminated positions would supposedly bring.

And that's just one example. If you pay attention to the fiction created by our government and fed by our media, it's enough to give up on journalism altogether. The recent minimum wage hike is a good example. Who in his or her right mind believes that earning $5.85 an hour is anywhere near enough to survive on? Yet, the story gets played as if the government of the people by the people has just done the people a favor when, in fact, the congressmen and senators who voted for the hike should be hanging their heads in shame when they collect their paychecks or take advantage of the myriad benefits they get with their positions.

But they don't because they live in an alternate reality they have created to protect them from the brutal truth, the wicked reality that affects the lives of the very people they should be representing but end up hurting. In times gone by, journalism would have pointed this out vociferously and worked hard to effect change. But in the age of the corporate-owned media, journalism merely perpetuates this alternate reality, this kind of fictional otherworld, through its shoddy and timid reporting.

Learn more about this author, Pedro Pereira.
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