Truth has always been elusive. Who do you trust?
When I was very young, I asked my mom whether Santa Claus was real. She said yes. Later I learned Santa is not real, and I cried my eyes out because my mom had lied to me. That was the beginning of my search for truth. Until that moment, I had pretty much believed everything I heard and saw.
In America, news media are controlled by five multinational corporations. Imagine the power of controlling what people hear and see. Power corrupts. Do these conglomerates have agendas? Sure. And, they spin narratives that support their agendas. That’s the news today.
Have you followed the crisis on our southern border? According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the number of encounters in March swelled to 173,348. ABC, CBS, and NBC evening newscasts devoted 113 minutes to the story. In April the number of encounters rose to 178,622, but the broadcast giants cut coverage by 61 percent to 44 minutes.
Only one-third of the stories mentioned that the surge had anything to do with President Biden. And, the networks toed the rhetorical line that Biden was “facing a challenge at the Southern border.” When President Biden addressed Congress April 28, he did not include the “challenge” at the border except to call for comprehensive immigration reform. No news here! Certainly no crisis.
Ironically enough, during the past four years under President Trump, the media reveled in self-righteously “speaking truth to power.” Apparently they’re taking a vacation from truth under Biden. If news happens but no one reports it, did it really happen? On the other hand, if news didn’t happen - like Russia’s colluding with Trump - and it’s reported 24/7 for more than 4 years, did the collusion happen?
Last week Rasmussen Reports wrote, “Liberal Media Viewers Are Misinformed About Crime in America.” Their lead sentence: “Fewer than 50 unarmed black suspects were killed by police last year and more people were killed with knives than with so-called ‘assault weapons,’ but viewers of MSNBC and CNN are far more likely than Fox News viewers to get those facts wrong.”
The Rasmussen poll showed 24-percent of CNN viewers and 19-percent of MSNBC viewers believed police fatally shot more than 500 unarmed black suspects last year. Only 9-percent of Fox News viewers believed that, and 60-percent of their viewers were three times more likely than viewers of the other two cable news channels to estimate the number correctly.
Have you seen what’s going on between Israel and Palestinians? If you depend on CNN’s most popular prime time shows, you probably have no idea what’s going on “over there.” But, you have heard a lot about Liz Cheney’s trouble in the House. “Anderson Cooper 360,” “Cuomo Prime Time,” and the top hour of “CNN Tonight” each invested at least half of their 60 minutes on Cheney, yet were silent about Israel and Palestinians. And, the only Cuomo you’ll hear about on CNN is Chris, not Andrew.
Consumers of news who are looking for truth in America need to search the pieces of the puzzle from pole to pole across the political spectrum to see the picture. Only truth can dispel the lies, narratives, and agendas of those who control the news. Truth has always been elusive.
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Daniel L. Gardner is a syndicated columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com.
