And That’s the Way It Is…Or Is It?

For nineteen years, Walter Cronkite stamped the veracity of his CBS Evening Newscast with an emphatic affirmation. “That’s the way it is,” was more than a catchy sign-off. It was a solemn pledge to uphold the highest principles of objective journalism, which Cronkite revered as sacrosanct. He famously argued that “in seeking the truth you have to get bo

th sides of a story.” Unfortunately, today’s reporting has abandoned the quest, seeking, not truth, but the instant gratification of a trending twitter feed. A non-stop barrage of thinly veiled editorials has replaced objectivity in mainstream newsrooms, and consumers are now forced to vet every bit of information with the skepticism of a Greek philosopher. It is both exhausting and unrealistic.

In September, just weeks before the Presidential election, Gallop reported a record low in Americans’ trust of the media. By February, with now President Trump hovering at historically low approval ratings, only the media was deemed less truthful by the nation’s citizenry. And the issue is not a partisan one. Though heavily outnumbered, the right-wing talking heads at FOX News are just as unbalanced as the fear-mongering, liberal elitists at CNN, MSNBC, and the other major broadcast networks. The New York Times and The New York Post are two sides of the same biased coin. After all, who is the arbiter of “all the news that’s fit to print?” The answer is painfully obvious under the world’s most famous masthead.

On November 25, 1963, Cronkite challenged Americans to search their conscience in order to “find a new dedication to the American concepts that brought no political, sectional, religious or racial divisions…” He was speaking, of course, in the immediate aftermath of President Kennedy’s assassination, but the words ring true a half-century later. Unfortunately, that needed voice of reason and tolerance will not be found in today’s increasingly hysterical media, and divisions will only grow as competing sides sally forth with a full arsenal of alternative facts. For those seeking truth, the only alternative is to mute the volume, turn the dial, and recycle the paper. The news media no longer reports a story; it has become the story. And that’s the way it is.

#rants