Media Lies

I was a Political Science major as well as a history and education minor. Yes, I had dreams of being a Political Science professor in some liberal arts college somewhere. Alas, the real world took over and I ended up taking a different path. But I never lost my interest in politics.

One of the best classes I ever took was Politics and Mass Media. It was extraordinary to follow an election cycle and take note of the subtle and not so subtle ways the media (in those days, evening news, newspapers, news magazines, etc) tilted their coverage in the general direction of the political leanings of the newspaper. They used grainier pictures of the opposing candidate and reported more positively on their candidate even when both candidates had done the same thing. What determined the newspaper's political leanings? We were taught to follow the money (who runs the news organization), to question what we read and what we heard. HUMANS produce news which means even with the best intentions, untruths can sneak in. In the worst cases. online articles, news reports and articles are simply propaganda. And just because propaganda is repeated by a familiar name or face, doesn't make it true.

PLEASE do your research. Listen to news from at least three different sources that have different political leanings. No, FOX is not "fair and balanced" but CNN is not the "most trusted name in news". either. I'm so happy that people are taking a greater interest in politics but I've seen outright lies repeated over the last few days like they are facts and we Americans need to focus on truth not the fluff the media feeds us.