Category Archives: Cultural Issues

Media: Who Can You Trust? Who Can You Respect?

When I was a child, our family always watched the evening news, both local and national. Those were the days of Walter Cronkite, ‘The most trusted man in America’, but those days are long gone. I’ll never forget his classic sign-off; “And that’s the way it is…” But was it really truth? Even venerable, respected Cronkite was not what he seemed to be. He was an early globalist and had Communist leanings. His outright lies about the Tet Offensive during the VietNam War helped turn American public opinion against the war.

Today, it’s no different. Our media and information choices have exploded in number, but which sources can be trusted to provide objective truth on the events that shape our lives? There was a day (long long ago) when the news was informative and relevant. People who watched the news on television, listened on the radio, or who read a newspaper could believe that which was presented to them. It was truth and it could be relied upon. No longer is this true!

Television network news is nothing more than a ratings game with stories that have been carefully designed and written to give the watcher/listener enough information to influence opinion. Their goal – every day – is to shape the narrative and mold the opinion of those who tune in each evening. They tell you what to think much more than tell you what is happening in our nation and in our world. And those who consistently watch, listen, or read are in danger of gradually allowing themselves to become molded to a globalist world-view.

I watch Fox News on a daily basis and I read the Fox News and CNN web sites daily – just to keep up with headlines and to monitor breaking news. As an aside, Dee and I watched the entire Republican National Convention on CSPAN, with no commentators offering shallow insights and opinion. Frankly, I do not need a commentator to tell me what to think, as I am perfectly capable of listening to the news and then coming to my own conclusions.

However, we do need information, if only we can find some objectivity and a degree of truthfulness in reporting. At the present time I recommend the following networks and websites as alternative media sources: I watch and/or read these sites regularly:

Television:
News Max
One America News Network
Right Side Broadcasting

On-line:
American Thinker
Breitbart News
Charlemagne Institute
Conservative Firing Line
Federalist (The)
Market Ticker (The)
Real Clear Politics
Ron Paul Institute
Zero Hedge

News organizations need high ratings, as a larger audience share leads to greater advertising revenue. Therefore, objectivity is easily sacrificed or at least compromised for money, along with power and prestige. All major networks play the ratings game: Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN, MSNBC, and even the Weather Channel.

Lately, Dee and I, like millions of others, have become disenchanted with Fox News. Once considered a reliable network known to be “Fair, balanced, and unafraid”, Fox has more recently leaned decidedly left, especially their news show hosts and some key reporters like White House correspondents John Roberts and Kristin Fisher.

Who can you trust? Who can you respect? Where can you turn for real (not fake) news? It’s up to you to seek out fair and balanced news sources for important and up-to-date information.

Start by not making yourself reliant upon some commentator’s analysis. For goodness’ sake: watch and listen, analyze and evaluate. Then come to sound conclusions – your own conclusions!

© Jeffery J. Michaels / Plain English Publications 2020
(Quotations allowed with attribution to this blog)