@Zom
It is very sad that decrying and vilifying the lügenpresse has become so successful.
The problem isn't that the lying press is lying - it's that until not too long ago, they were getting away with it.
Note that this issue of bias in reporting news isn't anything new, it goes back to the 1800's, when newspapers were rather blatantly labeled Democrat or Republican. When radio and then television came out, they at least made the appearance of trying to be impartial.
But what happened was, eventually, the bias on how the facts - or even which facts - were reported crept back in. The press continued to become more biased - and then something happened, one of their own called them on it. Sixteen years ago, Bernard Goldberg wrote a book called 'Bias' and how the media distorts facts and the truth.
I took it with a grain of salt, but then started doing my own research and started watching national news on the different networks to see how they reported the same thing. And after about two weeks of watching news reports plus also doing some internet and newspaper reading on the same incidents, it was quite clear that Goldberg was correct. The main stream media weren't simply reporting what happened, they were putting their own spin on things, and would throw in additional comments to further their own agenda.
An example might be something simple, like a wildfire caused by a lightning strike. Simple fact reporting would be that 5,000 acres were burned, with one home destroyed. What you'd hear might be a comment that 'firefighters were unable to contain the fire until massive environmental damage was done', making it both an environmental issue and also putting a faint hint of blame on the firefighters.
It became rather obvious during the previous administration where the bias of the press lay in their reporting, especially when the internet gives the everyday person the ability to actually look at an issue reported nationally and then go to the local TV and newspaper sites and see how something was reported where the incident actually happened. The guy who built a stock pond on his own property and then was sued by the EPA for blocking waters is a pretty good example of that. He got all the local and state permits, did everything right. So you'd see it reported by the MSM that the EPA was just doing their job protecting the environment against this scofflaw - while in other spots, you'd see that he followed the law and this was overreach by the Feds due to an Obama regulation - trying to apply the laws on navigable waters to a pond fifty miles from any river.
Is it any wonder that there is such a mistrust of what the lying press says nowadays? The standard of 'We report, you decide' has been set to the side, and what we in the public hear is 'We tell you what to think'. (Which a reporter recently blurted out...)
