Are you a news person? Do you get up and get it, that is the news, first thing in the morning and track it most if not all of the day? Do you want to stay current and know what is happening 24-7?
Most Americans do. Some, millions of course, listen or watch the news all day long. Do you? How much news do you need in any one day?
And what sources do you use? What television or cable do you watch? There is a big difference between the news sourcing of the three major networks ABC, CBS and NBC and that of Fox News among others. There is an enormous difference between the New York Times and the Washington Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, big, big difference. Not only in the facts, the stories and storylines themselves, but especially in the interpretation and commentary. We know, we the people do, that bias exists everywhere, EVERYWHERE! Point of view is built-in to the presentation of the facts. There really is no such thing as objectivity, just the facts, or the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth:
NO SUCH THING!
So that, we pick the new sources which are consistent with our values, predilections and political, social, cultural and religious beliefs and points of view. If we are conservative, Fox and the Wall Street Journal are fair and objective, and CBS and the Washington Post are not. Whether liberal or conservative, we would rather know the stories of the day from the news source which shares our points of views and beliefs knowing as we should that even they, our trusted resources, are not truly and fully objective, but rather possessed of their own bias, slant and way of looking at and interpreting the facts. We do live truly, my fellow Americans, in the day and age which is:
POST TRUTH
At least, truth and objectivity as we once knew them.
News is ubiquitous, everywhere, EVERYWHERE! The three major television networks, dozens of cable channels, local television stations, and radio, talk and news radio everywhere. And then there is Facebook, and Twitter, and YouTube, and blogs, and on and on and without end, and more and different every day. There is a constant barrage of stuff printed words and talk to the point of listener-reader fatigue, new information every day.
Then of course comes a new survey which finds that:
68%
Of Americans feel WORN-OUT by the volume of news to which they are exposed on a regular basis. JUST PLAIN TIRED! We the people feel that there is TOO MUCH NEWS and we “can’t keep up with it.” This so-called survey found that a sizable portion of Americans are feeling OVERWHELMED by the amount of news there is to the point of indifference. So says this survey from the Pew Foundation, a reasonably reputable source. Almost 7 in 10 Americans suffer from the NEW DISORDER now known as NEWS FATIGUE.
And the battle for coverage goes on. Every candidate for political office wants to be heard and seen, to the point where conduct and public statements are out of the norm, sometimes even bizarre. Witness Judge Roy Moore riding to the election polls on a horse no less. Not surprisingly, Moore lost the election. Or some of the bizarre statements and policies of Mayor De Blasio of New York City. And so many more. Perhaps they learned that flamboyance pays, perhaps in some ways from the election tactics of Donald Trump, or Governor Murphy in New Jersey, or perhaps Bernie Sanders as he sought the Democratic nomination for President in 2016. The media gravitates toward different, even bizarre. It so often muck-rakes in order to find and paint the sensational. So often in the world of politics, we the people seemed more attracted by the personal, misconduct and personal failures rather than the actual political itself, the issues of the day. The media knows that and barrages us with dirt and muck, prejudice, slant and bias. Some can remember the good old days of news, the Walter Cronkite days for when this spreader of good news finished he could proudly and even objectively say:
AND NOW YOU KNOW THE NEWS
And in almost every way, WE DID KNOW THE NEWS.
The New York Times to me is one sad story. The motto, the branding it gave itself was once:
ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO PRINT
And that was the core, the heart and soul of the New York Times perhaps some 50 years ago when in fact it was the leading newspaper in our country, and perhaps the world. But now, no more. It has succumbed to bias and prejudice. One pundit called it nothing more than a LIBERAL RAG. The news it prints now is by no means all of the news and some it prints is not fit to print and would never even have been considered by the editors and staff of the once great newspaper, never. It has become a liberal and progressive tool, thoroughly wedded to the Democratic Party, virulently anti-Trump and often the Republicans and its editorials reek of bias. And so often the very same with the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times and so many other newspapers now formed in the mold of the New York Times. That bias requires objective new seekers or conservatives to turn to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, Breitbart News and other sources which present the other side, the conservative side with perhaps as they state more objectivity. Maybe. But it is another point of view, another news source, the other side of the coin which in order for we the people to know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, must be added to the news of the liberal and progressive movements and media. Small wonder NEWS FATIGUE exists virtually everywhere and at least with 7 out of 10 Americans, don’t you think? 68% OF ALL AMERICANS, WHEN IT COMES TO NEWS ARE:
JUST PLAIN TIRED
And there is, as one pundit has well said, an almost total lack of civility. There is little respect for people or stories. There is certainly virtually no respect for the other side, for another point of view. There is a sense of right and wrong in the news and news reporting and a virtual lack of any kind of dialogue, fair and spirited disagreements much less a reasonable consideration of another point of view. The news drips with sarcasm, even vitriol. There is a sense of ATTACK, verbal attack, even a certain kind of hate speech which exists everywhere. And then there was Robert De Niro, a good gangster actor who made an appearance at the Tony Awards on national television, and around the world. De Niro of course went political as so much of Hollywood does and told the President of the United States what he would like to happen to him with a crass and vulgar four letter word. And of course the lemmings in the audience agreed and applauded. A sad spectacle indeed for our beloved country, showing the depths to which the entertainment media had sunk. The NBC cable channels attack and Fox defends. Respect seems nowhere. Civility, once taken for granted by the media years and years ago seems now lost and gone forever. What a shame for America. Our founding fathers firmly believed that we the people could never survive as a FREE PEOPLE unless we had a:
FREE AND FAIR PRESS
Objective of course, providing information upon which we could truly rely. Now, it seems hard to know what to believe for the press is no longer free or fair. It is controlled top to bottom, night and day, run like an attack machine by the evil George Soros, or the bias of Comcast-NBC, or Walt Disney company-ABC, or CBS or even Fox. Where, those of us who are JUST PLAIN TIRED, where can we find objective news, facts, THE TRUTH, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, where?
And then there is Facebook, ubiquitous, controlling, itself slanted and biased, liberal and progressive of course. Run by Mark Zuckerberg, it has often distorted or even omitted conservative thinking and commentary, including blogs, postings and other forms of Internet communication. Any point of view should be available to all and accepted by Facebook, but not the case. It is notorious for slanting, prejudiced against conservative thought to the point where it suffers lawsuits and congressional investigation. So many think they post and off it goes into the world of cyberspace. But so often, especially if conservative, not the case. And the same with Twitter. And others like them. What a sad day for America, is it not? Not only do we live with news fatigue, but uncertainty, tense about the future, KNOWING THAT WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW. Perhaps, telling it like it is, no matter how crass or gruff in expression, helped Donald John Trump become elected as the President of the United States. Trump pulled no punches, was often crude, attacked opponents and differing points of view. But at least he was perceived to be straight, to the point and without political guile. That characteristic had not been seen in Washington for years, DECADES! And it was refreshing, surprising, different, truly different. Trump, as we know, communicated so much to us and the world via Twitter. No President had ever done that before and Twitter became the modern day technological way like the fireside chats from Presidents of old. It was different, and at least provided some kind of antidote to news fatigue from all of the old ways of communicating the news.
So many say that there is hardly any good news in this world of ours today. We expect to see stories and get information regarding sensational news, or as the media terms it:
IF IT BLEEDS, IT LEADS
Gory is good, the negative over the positive. If there is good news, really good news, it moves to the end of the newspaper or television commentary, short and sweet. But for me, and millions of others, we live in a world which is dominated by:
THE GOOD NEWS
And that for us would be the GOSPEL, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In that good news, there is love. There is peace, joy, happiness. There is contentment, certainty and truth. There is grace, saving grace. It is never tarnished, compromised or corrupted. It is certain, truthful and eternal. It never changes. It is the message to the world of THE CHRISTIAN. That is the news that should be spread to all of the world and every day, and in every way. For it trumps any move that this world, stands well above it and no matter what happens here and now, the Gospel message stands well above and forever.
Read it and embrace it my fellow Americans. It is what we really search for and long for. For this good news, this Gospel is exactly what news should be:
THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!