Media Matters

"I don't believe in leprechauns at all," said the old woman from County Kerry. "But they're there, all the same."

   An informed citizenry is the best defense for a free society.
   You may choose not to believe what you read in the papers or hear on the news broadcast, but that doesn't mean it's not true. You have the right to ignore information given you by mainstream news outlets, and you may choose to focus on sources that reinforce your own predetermined views and opinions, and refuse to pay attention to any information that contradicts what your favorite politician preaches.
   But you do so at peril.

   News media will report what politicians say and do. When politicians deny having said or done something, broadcast news outlets can simply roll the video. And as many times as the politician denies it, that's the number of times TV replays the video.
   As public relations professionals routinely advise their clients, sometimes it's better to say nothing and let the story slide slowly away. Similarly, sometimes it's better not to strike back at an opponent's jibe. Such a tactic shows you have a thick skin and are able to take criticism if constructive and to ignore it when it's not.
   The insistence on striking back at any and every negative comment shows an obsession with message control, and a petty need to be always right, about everything, in every detail, all the time.
   No human is capable of that.

   Journalists are human, They try hard to report accurately what is newsworthy, and when they miss, they issue corrections or clarifications to explain the context.
   The very act of choosing what is newsworthy is subjective, as is deciding how to handle a story, which aspect to emphasize and which to leave out. This leaves reporters and editors open to the potential for incompleteness and criticism from those who disagree with the choices.
   Nevertheless, they try.

   There are, of course, some publications and broadcast outlets that lean strongly one way or another to certain political or economic views, and typically will emphasize different aspects of any given news event. Or they will ignore the event entirely, on the theory that their readers or viewers may not be interested in alternate viewpoints.
   But there is no such thing as an alternative fact. There may well be different opinions as to its importance, relative to other sets of facts,  but either something is true or it is not.
   When a public figure insists on proclaiming something true, it is the duty of news media either to publish additional information to provide context, or to provide contrary information to show its falsehood.
   Media matters, and responsible journalism is essential to maintaining a free society. That's why the founders of the American republic saw fit to guarantee that freedom. We allow government leaders to undermine that freedom at the peril of losing other freedoms along the way.