The Truth is That Numbers Can Lie

We are in a time where the words ‘alternative facts’ are part of an emerging lexicon. The  ‘new view’ of the truth is represented by the way facts are, ignored, distorted, and redefined. The word “freedom” has been turned into a ‘perceived’ right, regardless of whether facts, truth, or reality are involved.  Information can now be slanted in any direction, depending on the message that people want to promote. 

There is a new wave of media that  embraces the entertainment industry’s preference of ‘style over substance.’ The book, Hollywood Nation: Left Coast Lies, Old Media Spin, and the New Media Revolution, by James Hirsen, explains how the media’s backwardness can be proved by,  “… the simple fact that some “starstruck” news organizations are “more likely to agree to an interview with Jessica Lange on the topic of Iraq than some guy from the council of Foreign Relations.” We are definitely in a time where entertainers speak about issues that they have limited experience with.  Will experts from various academic fields start being called on to talk about currents events in Hollywood?

When we take a closer look,  the book, Spin! How the News Media Misinform and Why Consumers Misunderstand, by Bob Conrad, addresses the disconnect between what news should be, and how today’s media works.  Conrad explains how, “Research shows that audiences tend to believe contrary information over credible, science-based information when the two are presented side-by-side. It would seem that the process of doing so is actually counter to the aims of quality journalism.”   Journalism has decided to create a sub-category that highlights journalistic topics that are actually entertainment.

A lot can be said about journalism supposedly losing its way. It must be remembered that the media has definitely made questionable decisions in the past. The book, Media Madness: Donald Trump, the Press, and the War over the Truth, by Howard Kurtz looks at what is going on in the Trump era. Kurtz states,  “My greatest fear is that organized journalism has badly lost its way in the Trump era and may never fully recover.  Even if the Trump presidency crashes and burns-in which case the press will claim vindication-the scars of distrust might never heal.”  Kurtz had the right idea in addressing both the press and its relationship with politics.  The key question is, will the public ever demand that all journalists adhere to ethical standards again, or will the public continue to demand low standards in journalism?

Another important issue that won’t go away is the way ‘freedom of the press’ is  suppressed on mainstream media platforms. The way the press is controlled by its  corporate sponsors is appalling. The book,  The Shame of the News Media: Making Democracy by Reforming Journalism, by Wayne Sheldon, makes it clear that, “Large corporations also employ most of the journalists covering Washington. But just as importantly, corporate money has created the environment in which these journalists work.”  If a system exists where corporations and politicians have the ability to make, break, and control journalistic careers, how is the press supposed to remain objective?

Sheldon goes on to say that, “Also in fairness, most American journalists work far away from Washington and its influence of power and money.  But they receive similar training and operate under the same ethical rules and professional standards that allow the Washington press corps to produce so much irrelevant nonsense.”  In other words, the system is the system, and journalism is not as free as it purports to be.