I saw a comment today where someone asked "is this pushing left or right agenda?", in reference to a news report. I found it telling that this question was asked. There are few places we can trust to give an unbiased representation of the facts.
What we need is someone ... anyone ... who just reads the news. No embellishment or sin, just say what happened and let us all figure it out. Those days are long gone though I'm afraid. There's too much money in it for those who spin it. They've become part of the elite that they are supposed to be watching. That doesn't work.
No one ... either side ... even reports the news, save for local stories in local outlets.
Harrumph.
It's all agenda pushing and maintaining the narrative.
I agree. And a bunch of folks who make far too much money earning a living by stirring up anger and hatred.
I forget who it was exactly, but I once saw an interview with one of the old time reporter types ... I think it was Andy Rooney ... and he nailed the problem down to what the press has become. He said it used to be that reporters lived in the neighborhoods of America. They mowed their lawns and took their kids to the same schools as the plumber they lived next door to. In other words, they were part of middle America along with teachers, steel workers, contractors, the folks who make up the masses. Then money began to creep in and those same reporters began to become part of the elite establishment they were supposed to be holding in account. You can't do that when you're part of the problem. I thought at the time, many years ago, that the guy hit the nail on the head.
News used to consist of a daily newspaper, and a half hour of local, half hour of national news in the evening. Now there are multiple 24/7 news networks and radio stations, plus tons of website. They have to make up something to fill up that air time and to have news things to post online throughout the day. There is no longer any news, nor journalist. Now it is entertainment..
I totally agree that we are currently in a so called 'soft' civil war. The conclusions of this opinion that the press is fanning the flames is absolutely true. No one ... either side ... even reports the news, save for local stories in local outlets. Beyond that, what they call news is really nothing more than opinion pieces. We can no longer read the 'news' of an event or action and decide for ourselves how to judge it. Media today sees themselves as smarter, more in tune than us all, and interpret what we are permitted to see and therefore think.