“Back in the day,” as the expression goes, when Walter Cronkite or Huntley-Brinkley delivered the news, the public had a high degree of confidence that they were telling the truth. Federal policies were in place to ensure that “news” was accurate.
Until the 1980s, when the FCC started media deregulation. This has led to countless media (aka news outlets) that today play fast and loose with the facts. Other stations meanwhile “fall in line” as government mouthpieces for the current administration’s opinion.
So where does this leave us, as we try to pay attention to our government via the news outlets? We often have limited time while working hard and raising families. Maybe our options are to petition our legislators (if we haven’t already) to set strict new policies to protect free speech as a bedrock of our Constitution. And to concurrently set procedures which monitor factual reporting of the news, while establishing harsh violation penalties. We also might explain that we will not stand for a government-owned/controlled media — as this current administration seems to endeavor.
Or we could always go to websites like factcheck.com, in our spare time, or take a course in being media savvy in our “other” spare time. But, at the very least, I’m suggesting we see to it that our schools have “media awareness, accountability and biases” courses for our kids. Or, as our always-angry-never-precise Secretary of Defense recently stated, “my message to the media is to get it right”! Hmmmm … which “right” is that, Mr. Secretary?
Mary Ann Lauffer
North Huntingdon