I’m not the only person in this country that feels the MSM has gone way out of bounds in supporting this regime in Washington. What I do realize is that many Americans that watch the MSM take them at their word and that means that they have a huge responsibility to not only report events, but also to stop editorializing on those events. Those Americans that don’t have much political savvy because they either are too busy to take the time to understand what’s going on politically, or they are disgusted and shy away from politics, need to be left to form their own opinions on events and don’t need to be spoon-fed opinions.
This has become a real problem, especially with regards to CNN and MSNBC. They have gradually stopped reporting on news and are spending much of their time editorializing on the news. The way these “opinions” are presented is part of the problem. When a hard news story breaks, we see people on the sidelines analyzing the events in real time, giving opinions and presenting it as fact. That, taken with non-stop coverage of an event from the beginning to the end, does not give many Americans a chance to think for themselves.
Being a political and news junkie that I am, I see the way Americans are manipulated in their opinions. At the beginning of an event that is covered by the MSM, so-called “experts” are on-hand to give their “views” about what is actually happening. The latest glaring proof of what I’m talking about came with Rep. Pelosi’s trip to Syria. Then, you had a bank of experts and commentators saying that she had no-status and that she was “interfering” with the administrations Middle-East policies. She was consistently being portrayed as on a “maverick” mission that had no official standing. What I want to know is if that is news or is it opinion? That to me is opinion. To dress it up and to call it news smacks of propaganda. The true fact was that she, (Pelosi) as a member of Congress, was on a fact-finding junket paid for by the U.S. Government and Lou Dobbs and Anderson Cooper shouldn't have said that her trip had no "official" status.
What I’m trying to illustrate here is that the news is more and more becoming entertainment and the major news channels really are not too concerned about getting their facts straight. As long as they can keep their ratings up, that’s all that matters. News as entertainment is hurting the country. Our citizens have an expectation that the news that they hear is the truth. We have had a long history of reporting the news honestly and without bias. This has become more than an expectation, getting fair and balanced news has become a belief to many Americans. The sad fact is that too often Americans accept opinions they see or hear on the news as fact. It is incumbent on the networks to give a fail and balanced view on all subjects. For too long the American people have been watching FOX as a mouthpiece for Bush. Most people have just about discounted FOX for real and balanced reporting. What the other networks should be doing now is to make sure that they do not fall into the same category as FOX and deliver fair, balanced reporting and call the commentators when they have an opinion show and keep them away from hard breaking news.
The American people expect and demand the facts. They should be able to make up their own minds and not have their views colored by commentary they hear on the news. As Joe Friday put it on the show “Dragnet”; “Just the facts ma’am, Just the facts”.
