A Free Country Requires a Free and Responsible Press

Why is my viewpoint never given equal representation in the mainstream media?

These days, consuming quality news is as difficult as finding something healthy to eat. You have to disregard the restaurants with familiar names in convenient locations. Instead, you have to do a little searching. The problem is that it’s easy to make bad choices when you’re hungry.

It’s like the difference between eating a scoop of sugar versus a scoop of protein. One will give you a sugar rush followed by a headache, the other will give you enough energy to do a day’s worth of work.

Everyone says the US has a high-sugar diet. It tastes great, but it’s killing us. We don’t seem to realize that bad reporting is as detrimental to our psyche as a bad diet is to our health

I am interested in fact-based rational thinking. Unfortunately, I find that this perspective is infrequently represented in the mainstream media. I find it frustrating that my viewpoint is not afforded equal representation. If I want to see a reflection of what I’m thinking in print I have to write it myself.

We need healthy intellectual inquiry

When I become curious about something, I’ll go to the library or I’ll look up peer-reviewed articles on Google Scholar. If you start to do this, you’ll be startled to discover how easy it is to refute many of the narratives that make their way to the kind of “fast food” news sources that influence our national perspective.

You have to go digging for the truth, but lies are delivered straight to your cell phone in easy-to-consume packets.

Inaccurate perspectives are easy to refute, the problem is that our society has been conditioned to reject any facts that aren’t met with approval. There is a whole universe of information at our fingertips but academic papers are dry and never have the kind of attention-grabbing headlines that dominate the news cycle.

The spread of inaccurate information has become so commonplace that you can no longer have a productive conversation with your neighbor. The mainstream media has changed the definitions of common words. If you use the real definitions of terms like “woke,” “socialism,” or “liberal,” the people in your community will start chasing you with torches.

Image by Walter Rhein

Made-up medical conditions

There’s been a lot of talk about something called “Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).” Although that sounds like a medical condition, and the term is often referenced with the utmost reverence, it is actually a completely fabricated concept.

TDS is not officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). It is not a medical diagnosis. I’m getting tired of explaining this to people and having them look at me like I’m wrong. It would be a whole lot easier to find points of agreement if the members of your community hadn’t been conditioned to believe in things that don’t exist.

Having to explain this is a complete waste of my time. It prevents me from spending my energy on a conversation that has a chance of being productive.

It doesn’t help our society when news sources lend credibility to false concepts like TDS by featuring them in their headlines. For the sake of our mental health and the future of our nation, we have to be more discerning about the media we consume.

A false concept like TDS discredits not only the article but the news source where the article appeared. If that news source is part of a conglomerate, it reflects poorly on every other business within that entity.

We need more respect for the truth

If people are entitled to their beliefs, why isn’t there any respect or representation for what I believe? I, too, have a right to see my viewpoint reflected in the media. I’m also part of this country. My opinion matters.

Is it so unreasonable to ask the media to stop legitimizing fabricated medical conditions in their publications? We can’t wave our hands and say “It’s no big deal” because there’s a cumulative effect over time. When lies go uncontested, the general public gets out of step with reality in a big way.

We need factual reporting. We shouldn’t distort facts because they offend some people. We don’t have any obligation to bend reality to accommodate delusion. False beliefs get people killed.

Follow the facts to determine the narrative

Some people will argue that the media presents narratives that are driven by public demand. They’ll argue that this is a “free market” system in quest of profit. However, there’s evidence that the audiences for radio, newspapers, and television stations are all declining. If the media is losing its audience, perhaps that should be interpreted as evidence that they’re not providing the service the public wants.

It could be argued that the mainstream media is losing its audience to social apps and other platforms. That’s a valid hypothesis that should also be explored, but to suggest it’s either one or the other is not intellectually honest or scientifically valid.

A hypothesis shouldn’t be dismissed until there has been an inquiry. Too often, the media is content to label some individuals as “conspiracy theorists” to avoid the effort of honest reporting. We need a collective reminder that nobody’s word is ever good enough. Instead, you must publish the facts that disprove the lies. Until those facts are widely known, an inquisitive mind has to harbor doubts.

We can’t land on a narrative we prefer and then use the power of the media to smear the reputations of anyone who notices a contradiction or asks a question. If there is no transparency, and no peer review of the evidence that’s freely available, then it could be that the official narrative is the conspiracy theory.

This is the basis of intellectual inquiry. You don’t find the facts to fit the narrative, you create a narrative that’s based on facts.

Image by Walter Rhein

Be grateful to people who educate you

The media has trained quite a large percentage of our population to have unquestioning belief in ideas that are disconnected from reality. We find ourselves in the unfortunate position that we can’t solve this problem without causing some discomfort.

It’s considered impolite to publicly call out a lie. However, the consequence of allowing lies to influence the ideological infrastructure of our society is potentially catastrophic. We have to get used to the idea of causing people to feel a bit of embarrassment.

It’s not our responsibility to accommodate people who hold on to delusional ideas. It’s our responsibility to help those people see the truth. This can be as simple as explaining that TDS is not a real medical diagnosis.

Start small, it will have a positive effect over time.

We need a higher standard of accountability

The media should be embarrassed for spreading misinformation. There should be consequences for telling lies to the public.

Misinformation makes it difficult for the voting population to make informed decisions. This isn’t a question of showing tolerance for diverse beliefs, it’s a matter of separating fact from fiction. We should all collectively stand up and demand an end to the passive enabling of lies.

Some might argue that people are “entitled” to their beliefs, and that’s true. My issue is that misinformation is overrepresented. Facts are frequently diluted to minimize any apparent contradiction with popular narratives. I realize it’s disturbing to have to reconsider a long-held belief. However, when modern intellectual inquiry produces evidence that our traditional concepts are inaccurate, the only responsible thing is to allow our thinking to evolve.

The idea that we should disregard facts to protect our allegiance to outdated philosophies is not a sustainable ideological strategy. In other words, the truth sometimes hurts. What our country doesn’t seem to understand is that, over time, lies hurt a lot more.

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