There's been a lot of news about news lately. What's real news? What's fake news? How do you tell the difference? It's interesting to me that 45 keeps harping on fake news, when he was a huge perpetrator of that very thing with his pushing of the Obama birther theory that refused to die during the last administration, no matter how many times it was shown to be patently false. The White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, in his very first briefing, flat out lied to the press about the numbers of people attending the inauguration, took no questions, and then walked out of the room. The very next day, one of 45's most senior advisers, Kellyanne Conway, went on national television to reinforce those lies with some brand new terminology: alternative facts. Folks--there's just no such thing. As Dan Rather said about this, "A lie is a lie is a lie." We are faced with an administration that blatantly lies about matters both large and small, and which sticks to those lies, even when they are easily refuted with verifiable facts (a term that should be redundant, but apparently no longer is). The communication from our current government reads too often like a dystopian novel.
So, what's one to do in this "post-truth" environment?
In my opinion, this is something that needs to be addressed like any research. And if you've ever done any research at all, you will remember that we were all taught in school to consider the source. If an organization is using sensationalist wording in all of their headlines, there's a pretty good chance you are looking at something that's not so much news as it is propaganda. I am not interested in propaganda, and if you want to be taken seriously as a well-informed citizen, then you shouldn't be either. Likewise, if the articles you read are citing no sources of their own, then well--take that with a grain of salt. If they lean very far to the left (like The Daily Caller or Daily Kos or Occupy Democrats) or to the right (like Fox News or, God-forbid, Breitbart), then they are going to be handing you heavily biased versions of stories that may read very differently if presented in more neutral language. The interest of these sites on the extreme ends of the spectrum lie in pushing agendas more than in presenting reality, and I highly recommend avoiding them like the plague of misinformation that they are.
This is a great article on real news sources from Forbes Magazine: 10 Journalism Brands Where You Find Real Facts Rather Than Alternative Facts. You will find many of these sources listed in the sidebar--this is where I get most of my news. I read a lot of opinion as well, as I think everyone does. But when you read opinion, keep in mind that it's just that--opinion. Gather facts, consider opinions, and then, for goodness sake--THINK FOR YOURSELF! Most of us are not morons. Most of us are capable of thinking for ourselves. And seriously, there's not enough of this going on. Somewhere along the way, common sense has been lost. Somewhere along the way, we stopped being critical thinkers. And it's crucial that we get this back, especially now.
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