To the editor:
Like Bill Moyers said about the media, “It’s not what they tell you. It’s what they don’t tell you.”
There were hundreds of independent newspapers when I was young. In addition, the words of Walter Cronkite, Eric Severeid, David Brinkley and others could be accepted as Gospel truth.
Journalistic integrity used to mean something.
Over the years, all those hundreds of outlets of the printed and electronic media were progressively bought up and combined into a scant few corporate owners, the latter more interested in ratings and profit than journalistic integrity.
When Murdoch put together FOX News, fake news was born. As for myself, I wouldn’t believe FOX if they said water was wet, the sky is blue and the sun’s coming up in the morning.
What we understand as “political correctness” and “liberal media bias” were fabrications of right-wing radio. Neither one of them really exist. But I digress.
By the time of the last election cycle, the public had every reason to be cynical. Indeed, both the right and the left shared that cynicism. Cynicism is usually a healthy thing, but no longer.
Trump’s supporters mistrust the mainstream media and rightly so. The problem is they’ve shown contempt for and disregard for all sources of information other than Trump’s Tweets, Spicer’s comments and whatever the Donald’s ministry of propaganda cranks out.
Since the election, most of the mainstream media has tried to redeem itself by telling the truth. Despite the newly found veracity of the media, the Trumpnics believe no one but Trump.
People, news is not fake news just because Trump says so. Your faith in a chronic liar, narcissist and demagogue disturbs me to no end.
Nick A. Eakins
Perry
