Wannaskan Almanac for Tuesday, July 13, 2021 The Rise and Fall of the News

I used to watch the news.  I don't anymore.  Most of what is shared as news would make the principles of "1984" appear to be straight forward purveyors of truth.  News organizations have rapidly become political ideologues that are more concerned with telling us what to think than they are with reporting the news.  These "News" organizations work hard to manipulate the pulse of the people by over-hyping news that represents their biases while killing stories that go against their views.  In short, the media has killed their credibility.

This has happened from both sides of the political spectrum.  Both conservative and liberal leaning news sources have duked it out trying to claim the title of unbiased but what they consider center is almost always extremist.  The end result is that news sources have sacrificed their credibility.  In 2020, only 29% of US adults said they mostly trust news media.  I think the problem goes much deeper than that.  Of that 29% trusting the news media, my hypothesis is that most of them only watch news that they agree with.  

The lack of credibility of news sources creates many problems.  The January 6th Capitol insurrection, the BLM riots, the Proud Boys, Antifa...and much more...can trace their roots to the extremism of the news media.  Donald Trump is not as good as Fox News claims.  Joe Biden is not the saint that he is portrayed as on MSNBC.  The sad thing is that those who wish to be informed can no longer turn to the media.  This has led to an increase in conspiracy theories.  

Another problem that hits closer to home is that of the COVID 19 vaccines.  The media has been promoting these vaccines, but since they have destroyed their credibility it is hard for many people to trust what they are saying.  It has become so bad that if a newsource or social media says that I should do something, I immediately come to the conclusion that I should do the opposite.  

 I don't know what the answer is.  Perhaps we should have less "news" sources.  Maybe someone could start a facts only news source that isn't concerned with fanning the flames of this tinder box we call politics.  Maybe we could all use a civics lesson...one on getting along with others, especially those we disagree with.  

All that is just to say this...we are all together in this big pool called America.  We shouldn't let extremist news sources piss in the water.