Fake news

The term "fake news" was not one used by many people 4-5 years ago, but it has become a popular one today. We often hear President Trump complain about fake news. During the past presidential election there seemed to have been a lot of fake news spread especially through social media.

Fake news is information that is intentionally spread even though it is not true. It is different from satire and parody as they are  intended to amuse, not intentionally mislead people. Anyone who spends much time on social media such as Facebook has seen numerous fake stories circulated as true. I have often criticized Christians for repeating these stories that were long ago proven false. Repeating such stories makes us appear gullible and uninformed, complaints non-Christians enjoy making about us.

Certainly, the media does spin their stories to support their biases. One morning I was working out at a local gym that had several TVs on. Among the numerous programs being shown at the same time were CNN and Fox News. Even though they might be reporting on the same story, the two reports could not be more different. Watching them side-by-side was incredible.

However, there is another aspect of fake news that is even more alarming to me. It is the power of the media to control what information is given to the public. The fact is the media no longer reports the news; it makes the news. The editors, reporters and anchormen determine what information should be shared with the American public and what information should be withheld. A story is not news until they declare it to be news.

I just finished reading Breaking The News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy by James Fallows, a journalist and former editor. In the book Fallows points out the many ways the media have grown increasingly out of step with the American public and why it has lost credibility with many of us. What makes the book even more amazing is that it was written in 1996! The problems he identified with the media then has only grown worse today.

He points out many ways in which the media fails the public. One is the way the news is presented. Rather than going into detail to provide people with background information and doing an in depth examination of issues, we are given snippets of information 3-4 minutes long before going on to a completely unconnected story. The public is never given sufficient information to know how to think about the news item. It's no wonder people are so uninformed when it comes to the major issues confronting us today.

Another problem is the superior attitude many journalists have of themselves. Especially the ones in New York and Washington give the appearance they are far superior in intellect and understanding of what is going on than the average person. The fact is the leading anchor people who appear in the hot spots reporting on what is going on are using the material the people on the ground have worked on for days. They fly in, receive the material reporters have developed, report it as if they are all wise, and fly out to the next "breaking story."

Of course, since they are so much in the know they can know what is going to happen before it does. The author points out that virtually every prominent journalist and political analyst declared Bill Clinton's campaign finished at various times when accusations about his behavior made the news. Sound familiar? They did the same thing during the last presidential election about Trump. If you want to be entertained watch videos of the people covering the election for the various media organizations when it became obvious that Trump would be elected president. They were shocked! Their reactions are hilarious. The problem is there is no penalty for them being wrong. A few days later they began to covering the mid-term election and predicting who might win there and what that might do to President Trump's agenda.

This incredible book demonstrates that we do have a major problem with fake news. It's not merely that journalists report fake stories, although some do. It's the way they determine what's news, what information is given to the public and the way that information is given.