The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
I have noticed, completely on my own and without any coercion whatsoever, that the sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media.
And more alarming, some media outlets publish these same fake stories without checking facts first. Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control exactly what people think. This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.
This message has, in no way, been brought to you under duress. No, none at all. Absolutely none. No duress, no duress, you’re under duress.
But it would be, if The Columbian were ruled by corporate overlords who have a political agenda instead of by people who live in our community and care about the truth. It would be, if The Columbian had been bought by Sinclair media instead of being locally owned for 125 years. Sinclair owns about 200 TV stations across the country (including KATU, Ch. 2 in Portland) and recently forced its anchors to read a script about “fake news” and “media bias.”
That’s all of the anchors. All over the country. Collectively suffering from an historic case of flop sweat. It was like a dystopian Orwellian nightmare. It was like watching one of those proof-of-life hostage videos, as the victims stared into the camera with a “help me!” look in their eyes.
In the wake of that, I have come to the conclusion — completely unprompted, and of my own volition — that fake news is a problem in this country. I know this because President Trump talks about it all the time. “Fake news” he says whenever there is a story that makes him sound like a deranged charlatan.
And if you can’t believe the man who said the crowd at his inauguration was the biggest in history, who can you believe? If you can’t believe the man who made more than 2,000 misleading or false statements during his first year in office, who can you believe? If you can’t trust the judgment of the man who said there were good people giving Nazi salutes and shouting Nazi slogans in Charlottesville, who can you trust?
Well, you could trust The Mooch. He’s the one who said of Trump: “I’ve seen this guy throw a dead spiral through a tire. I’ve seen him at Madison Square Garden with a topcoat on. He’s standing in the key and he’s hitting foul shots and swishing them, OK? He sinks 3-foot putts.”
Nothing fake about that news. And in no way have I been bullied into saying this. Not bullied, not bullied, you’re the bully. Just ignore that photo that makes me look as if my fingernails are being pulled out with tweezers.
A badge of honor
Still, The Mooch didn’t go far enough. He forgot to mention that Trump has the most glorious head of completely natural hair. Or that Trump has the physique of Thor, God of Thunder. Or that the president developed cold fusion and solved Olbers’ Paradox.
And The Mooch forgot to mention that Trump would run into a school if there were an active shooter. “I really believe I’d run in there, even if I didn’t have a weapon,” the president said. And if you can’t have faith in that, then you must have no faith in demagoguery and must be susceptible to fake news.
I reached this conclusion on my own, without any outside inducement. Really.
Unfortunately, some members of the media don’t reach their own conclusions. They interview people and gather facts and consider all sides of an issue before creating a story based upon evidence. And if they share somebody’s opinion, they put it in quotes so that you know it is the view of only one person, and then they ask the other side for a rebuttal.
When they do this, they often get labeled as fake news, which these days is a badge of honor indicating they have done their job well.
And when the public stops believing that truism and starts buying into the propaganda about “fake news” being pervasive, that is, indeed, extremely dangerous to our democracy.
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