Your Opinion: Judging the news

Nelson Otto

Jefferson City

Dear Editor:

We hear that this is fake news or that is fake news. We have people who write in LTEs that go on that someone else's letter used a fake news site, etc. In reality, news is written and distributed by human beings who are flawed and with their own implicit bias. It is us as consumers to be more discerning when it comes to the news reports we see and then, if it is important to us, do additional research on our own. Pretty often it doesn't take a genius to know you are being fed a fake news report, no matter what side it comes from.

My favorite fake news reports that were obvious were the buildings ablaze in the background, people smashing out windows and destroying property while the reporter was claiming it was a mostly peaceful protest. The weathercaster who was leaning and struggling against the wind, saying this was the worst hurricane he had ever been through and then you see two people casually walking along behind him as if there was no wind at all. The tea party protests where people were quietly standing there holding signs and the news reporter was going on about how terrified she was to stand so close to them. I think my favorite one was the reporter interviewing Brandon Brown and claiming the crowd was chanting "Go Brandon" when you could clearly hear it was something else. Now thanks to her fake reporting, this man's name will only be remembered as a euphemism for "(expletive) Joe Biden."

So one must trust and use your own memory, logic, reason and patients. Never jump into an emotional response with what is presented on the news. In a week's time, the story will change several times, new information will come out or even if the report was completely wrong or false most publications will simply move on in hopes no one will notice their reports were false. In truth, most people don't pay attention and will move on to the latest news story that will spark their emotions. Please pay better attention; our future depends on it.