As a result of this media “crisis,” I often get asked about what my plans are in the journalism industry. I don’t mind that at all. I’ll share my goals and aspirations with anyone. My major problem, however, is when people — friends, family and people off the street — start telling me what kind of journalist I need to be.

Comments have ranged from, “We need less crappy journalists” to, “You need to get in there and straighten out those liberals” to the curious, “Are you going to put some truth back in the news?”

Most of these comments come from self-identified conservatives — both grown-ups and peers — some for whom I have the highest respect, and some for whom I have little.

I usually nod and smile and agree with these statements, but I’ve gotten to the point where I really can’t hold it in anymore. I’m sorry, folks — I just don’t know what you’re talking about.

I mean, I get that people think the media is run by crazy liberals. I understand people think every journalist is a part of the “liberal media.” But as someone who considers himself a moderate, I really don’t think all journalists are evil manipulators working to coerce the populace to go along with the liberal media machine. If they teach that in the J-School, I haven’t yet enrolled for the class.

With that being said, there’s certainly liberal media. And there’s also conservative media. I don’t really want to be affiliated with either. Unbiased reporting is hard to come by these days — some say it’s impossible — but why would anyone want to feign being “fair and balanced” to work for an organization whose readership or viewership already is biased toward certain ideologies or policies?

That’s not to say news commentary doesn’t have a place. I’m doing it right now. It’s the merging of news and commentary that’s the problem. More and more people don’t know what the news is anymore, preferring talking heads and flashy sets to facts from an anchor desk. If you’re into Rush Limbaugh, good for you, but he’s no Walter Cronkite.

Sure, for every Huffington Post, there’s a Drudge Report. And for every Keith Olbermann, there’s a Glenn Beck. If you don’t like what you’re seeing on MSNBC, you likely can turn to Fox News to find something you agree with. But we can’t let our own personal ideologies overshadow the truth, and we can’t go running to our media outlet of choice when the news makes us uncomfortable.

Therefore, it’s not surprising a recent Pew study found only 29 percent of Americans think news organizations get the facts straight. And that trust has been dropping throughout the years. Although this lack of trust is understandable, it’s also unfortunate. As trust in journalism goes, so does the objectivity of facts and events. Anyone is free to disagree — if The New York Times is wrong, some blogger will be sure to get it right. We’re starting to go straight to the interpretation of facts before we even know what they are.

There is an extremely small number of journalists I’ve known who ever have deliberately distorted the facts to further their own agenda, or the agenda of their publisher. Usually they are just slimeballs looking for a good story to move up in their own careers. And they’re not liberal or conservative — they’re just bad.

We live in an age where we want our news like we want a fast-food meal: quick, easy and tailored to our own desires. Pundits and “infotainers” are just exacerbating this problem. It’s my job to opine right now, but I’ll check my opinions at the door when it comes to reporting. This ubiquitous fusion between news and commentary isn’t something I want to be associated with.

So I apologize to anyone who was expecting me to be the next William F. Buckley Jr., but if I am ever a professional reporter, my job won’t be to fight back against “The Man” or dismantle the liberal media machine. My job will be to report the facts, God’s honest truth, just the way it is.

You can take my word for it. Why wouldn’t you? I am a journalist, after all.

Dan Faas is the State News opinion writer. Reach him at faasdani@msu.edu.