What’s Fake, What’s Not?

Lately, there are so many accusations of fake news, it’s hard to know what news is true.

With all of this smoke blowing and hot air spewing, we have fact-checking agencies to tell us what’s true and what’s not. When reading or watching news reports, we now have to suspend belief until we read or hear second and third and even fourth sources make a confirmation that what we initially witnessed was true. Or a lie.

Has freedom of speech and of the press taken a bizarre turn? Is it now accepted for the press to report anything, true or not, to get the followers on one side of the fence to believe in an agenda, while those on the other side of the fence condemn it, true or not?

One thing we do know is that the news cycle is not updated on a 24-hour basis now. The news cycle is updated every minute or two. Social media spreads the news quickly, but as you sift through all those tweets, there are many rumors and false statements.

Speed has taken the place of precision when reporting. And even though the press has an ethical obligation, they’re not fulfilling it. News reporters are supposed to be objective and impartial, but they aren’t. They also are supposed to be accurate, but they aren’t.

By the end of yesterday we found out that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s bust is still in the White House after hearing it was removed. And we also found out that more people attended former President Obama’s inaugural than President Trump’s even though Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, told us the opposite.

Neither is newsworthy when we have much bigger issues to solve.

Both mainstream and alternative press sources are guilty of misreporting, not reporting, and embellishing the news.

An ongoing example is the constant focus on identity politics when some regions of the world are moving closer to war. The only thing we hear about Syria is whether or not the US and European Union are going to accept more refugees. We don’t seem to hear much about the death and carnage in the country or how this civil war pits the US and Russia against each other. Which is more important, deciding what bathroom a transgendered person uses, or the war in Syria turning into World War III?

We don’t hear about the movement of weapons systems and troops in Eastern Europe. In another potential World War III hotspot, both NATO and Russia have been positioning and redeploying soldiers and missile systems.

Alternative media sites have been known to embellish news stories to provoke fear. There are hundreds of sites constantly reporting about the collapse of the American economy. And the few who have actually given dates of when it will happen have been wrong over and over again.

How can you know what to believe when all the information we’re getting is twisted to fit a special narrative? One strong impression is that all news is no longer news. It’s all propaganda.