By: Tom Lyden Fox9 KMSP Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) – For news consumers the relentless discussion of “fake news” can make it seem like reality itself is suddenly up for grabs. And for those who write and produce journalism, it can seem like a media Twilight Zone, where ‘All The News Fit To Print,’ as it says on the New York Times masthead, is now decided by social media shares, likes, and retweets.
Kirtley believes the controversy over fake news has been brewing for decades. For some, the definition of ‘fake news‘ has shifted in recent months to include not just something false, but issues of bias as well.
Zimdars analyzed nearly a thousand web sites offering news and information, and identified several different kinds of fake news.
The results of the analysis are eye opening.
Read the full story here: http://www.fox9.com/news/investigators/236270147-story
Left vs. Right Bias: How we rate the bias of media sources
I learned to disturst media in my 20’s. When I witnessed the twisting of stories told by News Media. 1) example was a story told in a Springfield News paper..some boys (foot ball players) were wrestling in the grass…there were whites and blacks involved in this play. The reporter reported the play as a racial fight. 2) In a free press in San Diego Ca. 1970 reported about the Karen Silkwood incident and subsiquent murder. This news was not reported on until Mother Jones reported on it about 6 – 7 years later. As far as I know there were no other reports on the topic until the movie made about Karen Silkwood, Staring Cher. 3) on my way to work one day in the early 70’s there was a radio show with announced that the government of Italy had fallen…they were without government. I did not hear about this again until about 40 – 45 years later….somewhere on line. South America…Noriega…what a mess that one was..free press had knowledge of CIA causal connection. Noriega a pawn …I to this day remain confused on the entire story. But I do remember that the stories I heard on the radio TV were worthless…the free press it turned out to be the one telling the truths about the situation. Distrust of anything establishment is questionalbe to me at this point. I respect science to a point…but depend upon my own observations, experiences, ask my own questions and connect the dots. A pretty good clue now days is when someone is reporting on something they say they see in a video…but you can not see it all no matter whether or not you enlarge the photo, stop the video, something is wrong about that report. Theye are reading what is not actually clearly verified visually. This works the other way too. When you see a person with a white back pack and it is reported as a black back pack…and an entire case takes place blaiming a black back pack was dropped…and later you see when the person is apprehended they have a whiteback …something is wrong with the story. Or when the repots says that a person shot them self several times…yet when the person is apprehended you see no blood on the person as he is being wrestled to the ground…and then there is finally blood on this person…it does make you ask…you shot the person? Then again you only see this piece of video 1X and it is never presented any where again… Something is wrong with the story … of the Boston Bombing. False Flag…yes more than likely. One doesn’t just go along with listening to a story and watching a video inetially distrusting the information. But, when one is watching and the speaker and the video are not telling the same story…a person will begin to ask questions… and this is especially peoplle who have learned through different experiences that the brain in the gut actually does function. Sometimes it functions as a tiny knock sometimes as a loud scream. .. and thus begins the hunt for truth. Never has a story held so many screams as the story of Sandy Hook, the Kennedy Assination, and the “death” of Judge Scalia. The “so called” experts may not always be right….sometimes common sense, and direct observation is the greatest source of knowledge. I’m not an expert on any one particular thing…but I can say that a lot of my own thought proceses, questions, and ways of seeing are as good as any expert. How do I know… because my thoughts are confirmed later down the road…by science, and other thinkers. There will always be a disconnect between establishment (elites) and the common person…until the mind, spirit, and character of the comman person is respected as a viable input into the dialogue of humanity. No one group has all the knowledge or the wisdom. Knowledge for too long has been removed from the average person and horded in elite libraries, secret societies, and behind the walls of governments and churches. It is no wonder that humanity in this time of the internet is grasping at information hungry for truth, hungry for knowledge which they can not quite obtain.
This article wasn’t in depth, by any means, but it does open up room for discussion. The statement that ‘bias’ can be perceived as fake news resonates strongly with me. News reporting is scarce nowadays, but analysis, speculation, condemnation and outright guesses which are then expanded to theories masquerading as facts are rife in what is known as the legacy media. Some of the headlines and stories of the once-respectable sources have begun to make them look like the National Enquirer. The WSJ’S utterly false character assassination of a top, harmless YouTuber is sad proof of the fear they have and their underhanded way of dealing with that fear… dishonesty.
The relative silence or apologist stance on the part of the Left media, including WaPo and NPR, to President Obama’s more egregious acts is even more enraging when these same sources shout out the slightest perceived flaw in the current administration. To them, an aide touting a clothing line is a worse crime and gets more coverage than bombing a country and causing death, destruction and millions of refugees. The latter is merely reported, the former is excoriated to witch hunt proportions.
I’m of the Walter Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley era. Messrs Cronkite and Huntley reported news, that is, known facts and clearly separated speculation from the known during reporting. Mr. Brinkley also did this during the newscast, then in a separate segment gave his analysis and thoughts on a topic or person. If I recall, he even turned in his chair to face another camera, physically separating himself from ‘the news desk’. (That may be a faulty memory or perception of camera angle!)
It is not just the millenials who have little to no faith in the legacy media. Moderates and Independent Boomers and Gen Z are turning more and more to non-traditional outlets. I am impressed with many YouTube sites that give background and report known facts, whether with or without commentary, and have adjusted my habits to rely on them rather than legacy media. We are not taken in by your polls, your exaggerated positive coverage of ultraliberal agenda and activities or your feigned outrage at being called out for your biases, cherry picked data and desperate lies.
Fake news? Yes, legacy media, we’ve known that for decades. But now you’ve gone collectively insane. Either straighten up… or go bankrupt for lack of non-zealot followers.