MARQUETTE – Here’s a mystery for you: why would somebody like me or my bright and talented colleagues choose the worst job in America for a career?

Yep. Newspaper reporter has been at the very bottom of the Jobs Rated report for the last three years, No. 200 out of 200 jobs ranked.

The report analyzes each job’s emotional and physical environment, income, outlook and 11 stress factors to determine which professions are among the least desirable.

After newspaper reporter, CareerCast.com ranks logger, broadcaster, radio DJ, enlisted military personnel, pest control worker, retail sales, ad sales, taxi driver and firefighter as the ten worst jobs this year in that order.

Now, I don’t personally think we can put too much weight into data and algorithms like those that generated this list, because how does one objectively quantify the “best” and “worst” jobs?

But it’s telling I feel that way, because it’s apparently not how most people do.

Reflected in our value for reductive and digestible data are the best jobs: No. 1 is a data scientist, No. 2 a statistician, No. 6 a mathematician and No. 10 is an actuary.

How not shocking – all math-related. These high-paying so-called “left-brained” jobs and the popularity of data-based lists would seem to reflect a shared value for logic and objective facts.

But how ironic that, looking around today, I see a proliferation of subjective (and frankly deceptive) entertainment passing for “news,” vast over-simplification of complex issues, diminished value for accuracy and integrity and an utter disregard for people like journalists – most of whom are passionate about integrity, truth and their role in a functioning democracy.

After all, why else would we choose the “worst” job in America? We could be paid a lot more to write ads or work in public relations (which is where many of us end up, often unenthusiastically).

These days, it has been argued, nobody cares about local news. And in national news, the corporations who buy the ads (as well as our elections) are also crafting the drivel that passes for the news (violating the very first rule of journalistic ethics, by the way).

But despite this troubling situation – I’ll tell you why I love my job.

It matters. I get to absorb and relay interviews, information and events that impact my community. I write the facts, and I carry the responsibility of constructing a relevant, objective narrative for readers with no other convenient way of knowing, for instance, how their elected officials are spending our tax money.

The press is meant to be a watchdog, protecting citizens and consumers from the corruptible forces of government and corporations. We are meant to shine a light on cronyism and exploitation, reveal social trends, and report on crime and legislation. We also share human stories that build community and empower individuals. We inform and inspire.

At least that’s what a well-funded and respected media with strong ethical values would do.

But it’s not a one-way street. Our work becomes meaningless when nobody reads it or cares, when someone would just as soon absorb unsubstantiated click-bait into their consciousness as they would factual and fair reporting from a reliable source. Because let’s face it – many people haven’t been educated to know the difference. And I would posit that’s not an accident.

And I would like to note: this is an opinion column, not a news article. But in my journalism training, I learned that even an effective opinion strives to incorporate facts and logic (logos), passion and emotion (pathos) and an appeal to our higher selves (ethos). It seems too often that instead, opinions are deceptive, oversimplified and crude – yet no one cares.

The challenges faced by First Amendment speakers is well known. But the societal cost seem to be poorly understood by the wider public.

The free press was written into the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, because “the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources,” as the Supreme Court ruled in 1945, is necessary for the functioning of a free people, who are capable of making informed decisions based on confirmed reality.

The tone of derision hurled at journalists and the lack of public concern for the degradation of the field by corporate oligarchs and media consolidation is alarming and damaging to the safety and preservation of our nation’s freedom.

Enter blogging and social media and the problems are infinitely more complex and frustrating. Attribution is the practice of sharing the source of your information. It is the crux of journalism. Reliable sources don’t traditionally include social media or Wikipedia. But if they’re going to be accepted, that info better be substantiated and attributed.

But today, media can report on rumors, anonymous sources or a Facebook post, and nobody blinks.

Clicks and page views are critical for the industry, because traditional ads are becoming harder to sell. So this click-happy model incentivizes sensationalized headlines and skewing of facts, really out of necessity, because local news is so underfunded.

Oddly, I never once thought about entering the field of journalism when I was young. It honestly wasn’t on my radar. I was never introduced to it, and nobody showed me its value. But I always loved reading, writing and learning.

Then in college I saw the film “Good Night and Good Luck,” about the compelling 1950s career of Edward R. Murrow, one of the most revered journalists in our nation’s history. I was moved. His integrity and ability to improve lives and move the nation forward simply by amplifying the truth struck me as profound. Because it is profound.

Things certainly have changed since then. The field is in the midst of an agonizing identity crisis, and I have a front-row seat.

Now more than ever, we need a vibrant free press, at the local and national levels. I just hope the industry can survive to find its balance and purpose once again, amidst all this change and uncertainty.

Mary Wardell can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248.