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RE: The good, the bad and the ugly: deciphering truth in the era of independent journalism
Journalism in the mainstream has become the propaganda arm of the status quo. It's literally the 'Ministry of Truth' from Orwell's "`1984'. Truth today is "fake news". The only real journalists left are independent. Sad that so many journalists seem to have sold out. What happened to all the great anti-war journalists that did so much good work during the Bush fiasco, ...er presidency?
I promise there are some of us out there still trying to do good work. It becomes harder with newsrooms getting smaller and smaller. I find at the local level there’s less partisan bias as a whole, but as the establishment media dies, the hole is filled by fringe groups or party arms trying to pass themselves off as news. On the national level the amount of selling out is terribly disheartening. I think media literacy is an important thing to teach but where do you even start these days? No one knows what to believe.
It takes perspicacity to discern the difference between truth and lies, and sometimes the expert liars add much truth in what they say... but it only takes a little poison to 'poison the well'.
Agents are both in the mainstream and alternative media - who can discern?
Even in local media... I see a trend... trust us! Deadly storms coming! Criminals breaking into your cars! You need us to tell you how to put on your shoes, download our app, (with advertising).
So do we give up on journalism as an institution because no one can be trusted or do we work on ways to enhance the individual’s ability to effectively scrutinize what they read/watch?
No, just be aware of what's going on and separate the wheat from the chaff.
Well how can they be aware of what’s going on if they can’t trust anything they read or hear? I totally empathize with your point but I’d love to explore ways to improve the general public’s ability to separate fact from fiction and whole truths from half truths. It seems to be something we struggle with as a society.