I assume that you have heard about Rev. Terry Jones and his widely publicized “International Burn a Koran Day,” initially set to take place on Sept. 11.

The original plan, as Jones put it, was to send a message. “We feel that a radical message is necessary,” Rev. Jones told ABC News’ Terry Moran on Nightline. “We also want to send a message to the moderate Muslim to stay peaceful and moderate.”

It seemed like every news outlet in the country was covering this story. It was impossible to escape it. Many commentators speculated about what would happen if Jones followed through on his threat. To this day, commentators are still talking about what could have been.

It makes me wonder if both Rev. Jones and the media went too far. It seems they were both to blame.

Firstly, I wholly disagree with Jones and the Dover World Outreach Center and what they planned to do, but this is America and they were just exercising their right to free speech.

Every day there are people who show their bigotry and disgust for others, whether it’s on a car bumper sticker or blog. Most don’t get as much attention as this church did. Terry Jones and his congregation were motivated by the 9/11 terrorists to insult the Islamic faith by burning copies of their religion’s holy book, the Koran. But the media did not need to cover it so extensively; consequently only furthering this church’s hateful agenda.

Though it is a journalist’s, radio jockey’s, or newscaster’s job to cover a story, whether it is controversial or ordinary news, the way the media covers the story makes all the difference.

Potentially inflammatory news should be covered. But only with one simple story, or maybe two. While the media cannot cover every issue, it can cover the larger subjects that the audience finds interesting.

CNN and FOX News are great examples of how many media organizations do this. They continuously rehash the same news day after day with a fresh spin, whether true or not, just to keep their audience tuning in.

Society has progressed to the point where it now allows the media the authority to form public opinion. Richard Salent, former president of CBS News, said it perfectly, “Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have.”

It is this mindset that has spun some news organizations out of control, covering every story they believe will make headlines and bring in more money. Although, I admit this is not true of all media outlets.

Due to our unhealthy dependency on the media, news organizations must be meticulous about presenting news that is fair and objective without worrying about how large an audience the story will generate, or how much money it will bring in.

News media should leave people well-informed enough to make their own minds.