When I lie, I feel it. I would like to say that I don’t lie, but blatant lies, lies of omission, and “white” lies are a part of my life. I know it is wrong, and when I am doing it, the guilt washes over me. Depending on the severity, lies will hang over me—consuming my thoughts. I feel on edge, as if the lie is written all over my face, and somehow, some way, someone is going to find out. It is a major source of anxiety, and until I either confess or somehow get it off of my shoulders, it stays with me. I felt this way about Broken Glass, a film directed by Billy Ray, from the opening scene.

Halfway through the movie, I found myself wondering how often this goes on in the media today. Lying to someone’s face is horrible. It betrays the basic level of trust that we as humans have for one another. However, blatantly lying to the general public repeatedly is something that I cannot comprehend. The world of journalism is rapidly decreasing as people from all walks of life can instantly post their thoughts to the general public. This creates a level of competition that was not felt by journalists as recently as 10 years ago. So how does one journalist differentiate himself from other another when both are jockeying for recognition? Embellishing and lying seem to be the simple solution.

I read The New York Times daily, and there are plenty of stories that seem far fetched, but I have very few ways to check their authenticity. I think that the way to solve this problem is to stay informed and stay inquisitive. After watching this movie, I began thinking about issues and raising questions about things that I though were cold, hard facts.

Issues today, such as who is going to be our next president, started becoming much more complex. I thought I was getting all that I needed to know about these candidates from one newspaper. I am not saying that this source is embellishing, diminishing, or lying in any way, but the more that I researched, the more I found these candidates to be very diverse and controversial. Specific issues were raised in different sources, and I found that I had a much different perspective after looking at these sources.

My point: take everything with a grain of salt. Especially the media. Even the most miniscule, seemingly insignificant detail is worth questioning. With a little research, things that were once fact have some doubt introduced. Read and investigate a little more, and I find that more often than not, they are biased to say the least.