How to Spot Fake News

I used to get so angry when Trump would blather about “fake news.” I held America’s journalism to an almost sacred level. This country was built on free speech and I believed our free press would commit hari-kari before spewing out lies, biases, or, the most egregious transgression, support of a totalitarian regime. “Trump is crazy, you can’t attack America’s free press like that,” I would mutter to myself, “who does this clown think he is?”

Well, I think I might have been wrong about Trump’s assessment of the US press.

Long gone are the days when the New York Times and/or The Washington Post or any other mainstream paper would speak out against a corrupt government action or expose some controversial subversive agenda. This was a matter of course back in the day, and it was what newspapers were known for—investigative journalism. Now their reporting and print paradigm looks more like Prvada’s or Der Stürmer’s—laden with propaganda, biased reporting, censorship, sensationalisms and omission, as well as kowtowing to whatever power source is paying the highest fee (I have no proof of this, but it certainly is what it seems like.) Considering that media in the United States is owned and operated by a small faction of billionaires who each have their own political loyalties and agendas, it is no wonder. How could you have a freethinking press? It seems to be an oxymoron.