The Media Is Part Of The Problem

There's a big division in this country, and it goes across political lines. However, it's a mistake to say it's simply the politicians causing this division. It is true that the politicians seem to be worse now than in recent memory. Watching from the sidelines and not being a big fan of the Republicans or the Democrats, I've been disgusted by what I've witnessed during the last four years. Sadly, I see no end to this madness.

I've spoken in the past about the role the media has played in dividing the nation. I thought that they did a terrible job of covering the news leading up to the 2016 election. The media was outright lying to the people when they gave poll numbers suggesting that you shouldn't even bother to vote. Hillary Clinton was an iron clad lock to be the winner. First of all, they knew that wasn't true. How can the media know that? You don't know how people are going to vote until they actually vote, and was irresponsible of the media to cover it the way they did. Not surprisingly, they're doing the same thing leading up to this election.

The media picked a narrative that was against Donald Trump and ran with it. For over two years, we listened to how Russia won the election for Trump. Then, we listened to the impeachment nonsense that was built on a lie. Then, we had the covid-19 pandemic, which the media spun to blame entirely on Trump. This is called irresponsible journalism, and I don't even think it should be called journalism. This is tabloid infotainment. The media and the politicians have divided the people so badly that people only tune into things that enforce their beliefs.

This isn't even about Republicans vs Democrats. This isn't even about Donald Trump or Joe Biden. Politicians come and go, but the principles this country was founded upon endure. There are some people wondering if what's really going on here is an attempt to destroy the country. I could expand on that subject. However, what I want to talk about is the media. The media is part of the problem.

You could see the beginnings of this when CNN started airing their show Crossfire. You had people on the right and people on the left, and frequently it would turn into arguments. At the time, CNN still maintained some semblance of a news organization. You could tell there was a certain political bend in the way they reported, but you got enough of the truth out of what they were reporting to make up your own mind.

The problem is, Fox News was created to be some sort of counter to the liberal CNN. Then, MSNBC came into the picture and went even further left of CNN. None of these outlets are really telling you the news the way it is anymore. You'll get some news, and then you'll have talking heads on screen all day telling you what you're supposed to think about it. Is this responsible journalism? Is this contributing something positive to the public dialogue and making things better? I don't think so.

I'm not sure how you can get the media back to what it once was. If Donald Trump gets elected and attempts to push any sort of legislation that tries to fix the media problem, it will be vilified from the start. If Joe Biden gets in as president, you can bet it will be treated as if the only problem is Fox News and certain people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. However, there is plenty of blame to go around with people on the left and people on the right. The news needs to be the news.

I would favor classifying certain channels as infotainment and not allowing them to even be referred to as news unless they report news in a more traditional manner. If MSNBC, Fox or CNN wants to report some news and tell people what to think about it, it should be labeled as such. Part of the problem in this country is caused by the media, and it trickles into entertainment, sports and other things. One might question why that is, but that's a subject for another time.