WORSE THAN BIAS

Online, I usually avoid discussing politics. So fair warning: this post involves politics.

But only tangentially. It's really about the news media in general, left AND right on the political spectrum. 

I am not talking about simple "bias". There is something much more insidious - and less defensible - than bias going on these days. 

At least since my college days, I have been aware of bias in the news media. 

I first became aware that bias could shape the way a story is reported. And that was worrisome to me. It was possible to sway the audience toward a particular conclusion through subtle tricks of language. 

Then I became aware that bias could dictate what was left out of a story. This was even worse. Ignorance of context leaves you unable to get anything meaningful out of a news story. 

Now I see something very different from bias. Something which makes the bias of past decades seem downright quaint in comparison. 

Bias has stepped aside to make room for outright manipulation. 

If you still think you are getting "the news" from the "news media" in 2022, I am not sure what sort of evidence it would take to convince you. 

Maybe CNN's coverage of Trump's comments on Putin?

(Disclaimer: I am not singling out CNN because they are "the only one who manipulates". They are far from alone in this. CNN is simply the vessel for this particular example of media malpractice.) 

Check out "Trump Sides with Putin as Biden Tries to Stop a War" at CNN.com. 

Here's how the "analysis" by author Stephen Collinson begins: "It took only 24 hours for Donald Trump to hail Russian President Vladimir Putin's dismembering of independent, democratic, sovereign Ukraine as an act of 'genius'."

If you bother to look up the full quote from Trump (which is not part of the article or the video clip from their "reporting" of the incident on air), you will understand that Trump is not praising Putin. He is insulting Biden. 

In effect, Trump's message was "Putin is playing Biden like a fiddle".

And CNN reported "Trump praises Putin's musical genius". 

After more than 5 years of Trump in the headlines, to pretend you don't understand his, shall we say, "unique communication style"? That is entirely disingenuous. 

This is much more than bias. It is an outright, intentional lie. And it has been dressed as "The News". 

If you are a fan of CNN, this should more than bother you. (It is not the first time they have done this. It won't be the last.)

If you are a fan of FOX, you won't have to look too hard to find similar examples there. (If you are objective.) 

In my mind, there is no "trusted name" in the news business. 

This is dangerous territory.