Is the news media a good source of information? What are your chances of hearing or reading the truth on radio, television, print or news sites? It is safe to say that information is hard to be proved to be dishonest. That doesn’t mean you are dealing with honesty. The facts can check out and a person can still be severely misled. Anything that makes it to the national press is agenda driven so you are not likely to find something you need to know. Censorship in American news is much more effective than what was done during the cold war in communist countries. The populations in these countries knew they were being lied to. Americans mostly believe what they hear.
Given the way news organizations are funded it would actually be a surprise if they were honest. Those of us who understand natural law and use it in our lives know the problem. News organizations are paid by charging money to people who wish to lie on the air, news site or in print. This is what advertising is. It is a form of celebrated lying. Famous people are paid enormous amounts of money to endorse products and lie about them in ads. Talk show hosts lie constantly on behalf of their sponsors. Of course they claim to be super selective as far as representing advertisers is concerned and that is a lie also.
Most lying in advertising is completely legal. How is that? Lying is only prosecuted if words are used. The norm is to tell every lie that can be thought of, just don’t use words. Convey the same message with images and other tools and the advertiser is home free. It is all lies because the truth is fixed. A good ad from an advertiser’s point of view is best filled with as many lies as possible.
So, is the news media honest? There is no reason to think they would be. I am not suggesting any new laws, shutting them down or having the government give the news. That would be even worse. People who want to know things have to do their own research.
But, it is too much to expect people who are paid to tell lies to be honest with their audience. What makes it to the news is what in no way interferes with an organization’s agenda. Usually government and the media work together these days so you get on the news, information that is far more manipulative than what the Soviet Union put out during the cold war. What is relevant but completely left out is a complete story in itself.
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