the news media is not trustworthy
No. This is an incorrect and harmful outlook on the situtation.
However, there are certainly articles in the news (often coming from specific sources who call themselves “news stations”, but also from (as is clear by reviewing these non-factual “news” accounts) various social media wherein there is no cross-checking or confirmation of what is really happening, or determination of outright fraudulent claims by an individual or group, who are purposely misleading their followers for fun and/or profit.
Truly, the vast majority of news articles are honestly presenting the facts as they occur. A small minority show some facts, and then twist a misleading narrative around those cherry-picked few items while avoiding in depth analysis (as is the case for most biased “news” (propoganda) agencies). But social media, along with a handful of propaganda agencies, will make up stories out of whole cloth.
The problem is that while the propaganda agencies are not redeemable, the social media is a god-send for real news gathering. But good agencies have to put together all of the pieces and, dare I say it; do a little investigative journalism
to make sure of all the facts
BEFORE releasing the live-caught coverage. This is something that most of the more established news agencies do in fact carry out (i.e. - CBS, AP, NYT, Reuters, Guardian, BBC, CNN,....). Although, even these sites can make an error on occasion, but then they will correct themselves in a later issue. That itself is a good indicator or a site’s quality; do they admit errors and correct misleading articles?
The trap is that most of us spend so little time (have so little time to spend) on reading deeply into articles, and/or checking alternate sources for confirmation.
Just like most people won’t read to the end of this post and get the next update from the AP.
Thanks for your efforts....
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