I long for the days when we had real newscasters who were committed to the truth and to the facts; who did not interject their own political bias into the reporting of the news. A free and independent, non-partisan press that prints/broadcasts true facts is one of the pillars of our nation since its birth. The American people are literally starving from a lack of truth. Add to the quandary created by social media whereby when one does decide who or what he believes is immediately attacked, humiliated, or horror of horrors –– banned from Facebook or Twitter.
CNN, MSNBC, and the like have simply become parrots of progressive ideology; partners and guardians in the protection and advancement of certain political ideals. They will stubbornly protect the sins of one party while launching coordinated attacks on anything or anyone who dares question or disagree with the "party narrative."
Conservative news is little better –– parrots of a different color who are biased in the other direction. "Fair and balanced" is really not what is happening.
There simply should be no such thing as a liberal or conservative press. The quality most precious to the American idea is a neutral press, untethered to any party or ideology. It is in this environment that cads and criminals are exposed, tyrants are toppled, and miscreants are sent to prison, regardless of whether they are on the right or the left. I don't mind a press that is always vigilant and digging around in the dirt. I just don't want a press that only digs on one side of the yard. I also don't cotton to a press that magnifies the insignificant and buries the important. When the press becomes the exclusive property of any person or party, we have traveled too far down the road to tyranny.
I have come to the point where I am loathe to listen to any news at all. I don't know who it was, perhaps Mark Twain, who said, “If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.”
I want a newscaster or a news writer to do what his name implies - to cast the news.
Let me decide what I think about it.
Let me decide who I believe.
Let me decide who I trust.
Most reasonably intelligent persons can receive an honest presentation of the facts and come to a rational decision about what is true. Or, at lease we were able at one time to sort out truth from fiction. Unfortunately, you and I are living in the twilight of news reporting and the birth of propaganda dissemination.
As Joe Friday famously said, "Just the facts Ma'am."
