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This article expresses my
opinion. It is not a statement of fact. It is not meant to be interpreted
as such. Nothing on this site is. And it is our responsibility to say so
up front.
Unfortunately, most of the
news media does not seem to share this sentiment. A growing number of
global citizens, young and old, are beginning to turn to the internet and
television for their daily news updates. Some have declared print dead, a
medium slowly being phased out in favor of others.
But what a print newspaper
provides is something few television stations and websites do: tangible
sections of news, sports, lifestyles, and an entirely separate one for
opinions. Editorial boards are separate from the staff that writes and
edits the news, and the people responsible for revenue do not play a part
in the paper’s content decisions (or, at the very least, they’re not
supposed to).
This separation of powers,
as equally important in the media as the separation of church and state is
to the preservation of a nation’s religious freedom, is something that
simply doesn’t exist outside of most print newspapers and their respective
web editions. The same people who read the news are often the ones
interpreting it for the viewer, a simple fact often lost on the millions
who turn to CNN, Fox News, and other outlets each day.
People like Lou Dobbs and
Glenn Beck are not newscasters. They are not reporters. They are people,
like you and I, who have opinions. Their flaw is that they share them in a
way that distorts or even eliminates the facts. They do so not on the
editorial pages of the New York Times or through impassioned
political commentary on the morning news, but rather, on their own daily
broadcasts to millions.
The political opinions of
Dobbs, Beck, and others aside, this seems like an obvious farce. Their
analysis is portrayed as purely factual, and if debate is offered on the
issue, the host is quick to silence the opposition and make their guest
look like the fool. Of course, the reality is the opposite.
It seems that, in yet
another aspect of public life, the truth has taken a backseat to the
political agendas and sensationalism of the major cable networks. The
preceding text was an opinion, and I’m not afraid to label it as such. Why
are they? |
