We hear a lot of political accusations about “fake news”, but I think there is a real problem. I’ve been following the news seriously since I was a teenager in high school. I read the New York Times every day of my life since then. And I watch both local and national news on TV almost every morning and night. In addition to the regular news shows I watch some of the news channels like CNN and Fox News as well as “60 Minutes” – a news magazine show. And I also read TIME magazine. So I like to think that I’m well-informed. But in recent years it’s been getting more difficult to find the truth in news reporting. I find that the same story on a given night is reported with completely different perspectives – for example when comparing CNN, ABC, and Fox News the story sounds completely different – and especially the commentary. It’s very disturbing to me because I always expected important news to be reported objectively and truthfully. But I think the political climate in recent years has created biases in the media that distort and mislead – hence I think I’m beginning to believe that there really is “fake news”.
I had always thought that “fake news” was what you would expect from the tabloids and late-night comedy news shows. But it’s gotten to the point that I don’t know who to believe. On important stories I will listen to several different news shows and read the New York Times reports in depth. On a number of occasions I found that the headlines and the news summaries can be misleading and you have to dig into the details of the reports to find the truth. This is very frustrating and shouldn’t be the way news is reported in a democracy. Here is one recent example that comes to mind. There was a headline in the New York Times that said “Trump removes insurance coverage for millions of poor people”. That sounded important to me so I dug into the story. I found out in the details what actually happened. It was the administrator of the Medicaid program – not Trump, not even a cabinet member – who temporarily suspended a subsidy program when a federal judge declared that the methodology used for allocations by the states was unlawful and should be changed. So the department of Health and Human Services complied with the ruling and set out to fix the program. Now compare that to the headlines and “soundbites” that you get from the media and you get a sense for the problem.
So I have decided to stop watching some of the news shows and news channels that I have found to be very biased and misleading – CNN and MSNBC in particular. And when there is a story that I think might be important, I research it until I think I have found the truth. This should not be necessary. Perhaps if more people feel this way the media may respond and become more objective. But I’m skeptical – SAD!
All Rights Reserved © 2018 Henry P. Mitchell