“Worst Person in the World,” by Keith Olbermann.

“Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger,” by Stephen Colbert.

“The One Thing,” by Glenn Beck.

Are these phrases that come to mind when you think of news? Are these the people you imagine when you think of journalists? If so, we have some unfortunate news for you:

They’re not journalists.

In this era of a strigid political ideology dichotomy, we’ve noticed a disturbing trend: People are taking opinion as news.

And, as much as we love our own Opinion section, this trend is simply irresponsible and wrong.

Yes, the Opinion page is still worthwhile, and we try to supplement our views with facts, but we are not news. And for that matter, neither is Bill O’Reilly, Rachel Maddow, or Jon Stewart.

As Glenn Beck admitted on a recent visit to The View, he is indeed not a reporter. Shockingly, he even spoke a resounding “no” when asked by Barbara Walters if he checked any of his facts.

“I am a commentator,” Beck said. “I am a commentator. I commentate on life.”

Yet even if Beck and other “commentators” will admit to not being reporters on other television shows, it’s hard to say they reflect that acknowledgment in their own programming.

They dress like reporters, they talk like reporters, they use facts like reporters. Sometimes, they even bring on guests to give their -usually concurring- opinion, just like reporters.

So why is this how things are? How did we get here?

It can be argued that the particular vessel for such personalities began with punditry, a practice historically associated with a late 19th century Yale student group, aptly named “The Pundits.”

From there, the lampooning and pointedly opinionated views found their way into the American capitalism model, giving a great popularity boost to the famous -or infamous, if you prefer- Bill O’Reilly.

Once news organizations realized it was far more profitable to corner political niches, the middle ground often fell between the cracks. After all, why fight over the same group of people looking for neutral news when you can garner a massive following by following talking points that play to an audience’s already-established perceptions?

For example, Fox News and MSNBC garner followings that, when combined, add up to almost three times the size of the decidedly more neutral CBS News, according to recent Nielsen Television Ratings.

Combined with contemporary psychologist Donn Byrne’s assertions since 1967 that human beings tend to seek out similar opinions, or “consensual validation” in order to reinforce their worldview, and it should come as no surprise that opinion makes for great television.

But we as the American public need more than entertainment and assurance that we’re right. We need news that informs, and opinion that challenges. And most of all, we need a clear distinction between the two.

It’s time we stopped looking to comedians and fast talkers for our news, and acknowledged that news for what it is: information. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Information that we can interpret as we see fit, and form our own opinions.