Where to find truth in media smorgasbord?
We can, if we wish, adjust the brightness and volume on our TV sets. But what if we could also adjust the political slant we see and hear just by turning a special knob?
"Dog bites man" is not news. "Man bites dog" is, and let us say that is being broadcast. Though factual, it doesn't suit your taste. You turn the ideological knob on your radio counterclockwise, and now you hear: "White man bites black dog." Turn it further left, and you get "White male evangelical bites black pooch wearing hoody." Finally, when the knob can't move any further, you are told that Donald Trump apparently applauded as an animal-hater devoured someone's pet.
You weep for the nation, and turn the knob in the opposite direction. Soon you learn that an army veteran has bitten an undocumented stray in self-defense. Further clockwise still, and at Spinal Tap Intensity #11, it is reported that Democrats are slamming a former soldier in his fight against a four-legged terrorist.
There is of course no such technical marvel as an "ideological tuner." There is no need for one. Nowadays, any channel changer or regular tuner gets you the "newsmorgasbord" described above.
To the "what, where, and when?" of traditional journalism have been added "why, what if, and so what?" News content, editorializing, and innuendo have blurred into a miasma of misinformation. No wonder people are polarized. Where does fake news end, and alternative facts begin? Reality itself is suspect. The end of truth foreshadows the end of the world.
"World to end tomorrow," CNN would trumpet then - "but Mueller probe set to continue."
"Armageddon At Hand," The Wall Street Journal would announce - "Dow futures plummet 666 points."
"JUDGMENT DAY!" the Daily Herald's own banner would read - "Suburbs bear the brunt."
Alexander Lee
West Chicago