It’s a weighty, timely subject, but it also seems like one that we shouldn’t even need to talk about: Truth in journalism. I mean…of course journalists in all varieties of media tell the truth, right? Isn’t that the whole point?
I’m not old enough to know exactly how accurate national news was when I was a kid. But I distinctly remember Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, and Dan Rather all being respected and trusted. Maybe that was naïve. But I don’t think anyone worried about what agenda they were pushing, or screamed “fake news!” at their broadcasts. Because that’s what they did…they just reported the news.
Clearly, times have changed.
The lawsuit against FOX News by Dominion Voting Systems has brought a staggering amount of information to light regarding just how bad things are over there under Rupert Murdoch. The depth of the flat-out lying they’ve done is honestly astounding. I mean…if you’re not a fervent supporter of them already, you probably already treat their content with a fair amount of skepticism. But it’s even worse than I imagined. It’s an ongoing conspiracy in which texts and emails demonstrate that they have openly and blatantly lied, over and over again, in order to feed their viewers heaping, steaming, false spoonfuls of exactly what they want to consume.
That’s not news.
My experience is anecdotal, but I thought I would take a look at how one media outlet handles things. Obviously there isn’t a direct comparison, as we are a small market, local station. But—at least to some degree—we both ostensibly do the same thing. So let’s clear some things up:
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