I confess. I watch Fox
News, but I also have in the past read the New York Times. Basically I do that
to see how the other side lives. I also obtain news from many other sources. In
my mind, to depend on only one source is asking for and receiving a one-sided
coverage and propaganda. That being said, I am convinced that the New York
Times has long ago ceased to be a news organization and has become instead a
propaganda arm of the leftist movement in this country. And as I have said
before, I wouldn’t wrap my dead, rotting fish in the New York Times for
fear my fish would be contaminated by the experience.
This is what I know.
What you believe and what you know is largely dependent on your source of
information. The only way one can know without a doubt the veracity of
anything is to have experienced it. If you go through life using the New York
Times as your only news source, you would be a disciple for the left. By the
same token, if your only source is Fox News, you become their puppet. I have
friends and relatives who think they know the truth of situations but, because
they often get their information from left wing news outlets, they couldn’t be
further from the truth. Sadly, in my view, Fox News has moved so far to the
right that their content is sometimes suspect also. Their motto, “We report,
you decide,” is cute but the facts are that they decide what they report just
like all news organizations.
When a newspaper
publishes one of my columns, it is printed on the “Op-Ed” page. That’s where it
belongs. It’s not news, it’s opinion. Unfortunately, much of what passes as
news in our publications is really nothing more than opinion driven by the
agenda of either the writer or of the organization for whom he works. When
readers mistake opinion for news, they become believers. Sometimes that is
good, sometimes that is bad. Wouldn’t it be great if news organizations just
reported the facts of situations, and let the readers decide what they choose
to believe? I am afraid that ship has sailed though. Even local news anchors
seem to find it necessary to both report the news and then tell you what to
think about it. That is not their job.
An interesting
experiment is to find a news story of interest then follow that story through
all of the major networks. If it is a positive story about Donald Trump, Fox
will give it a favorable reporting. The rest of the networks probably either
won’t give it favorable reporting or they will ignore it all together. If a
story doesn’t fit a network’s narrative, it will usually not find the light of
day. That particular type of malfeasance will not be well received by the
consuming public either.
Newspapers are having
much more difficulty staying afloat. The more they try to be the news instead
of just reporting the news, the more difficulty they are going to have.
It’s a lot like when
Barbra Streisand tries to offer me her opinion on politics. I say, just shut up
and sing. When you are not entertaining me, you are just boring me. When news
outlets stop reporting the news in favor of giving opinion on the news, I say
just shut up and report. Otherwise you are just a bore.
Like the late, great
John Wayne once said, “Life is tough. It’s even tougher if you’re stupid.”
Ron Scarbro
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