At some level, we all crave news. We want to know what is going on in the world around us -- whether it be our community, our area, our state, our country or, places far distant in other parts of the world. We have a desire to know what is happening that might affect us.
As I was growing up, every morning my dad would read the newspaper. The rest of us didn't touch the paper until he was through with it, then we would read the sections he had finished. I think I have previously mentioned that he once challenged me to form opinions of what was going on in the world by keeping myself informed from the newspaper. He told me that if I didn't form my own opinion, someone else would form it for me.
At that time he and I both trusted the newspaper as a source of unbiased information. We also trusted newscasters on television like Walter Cronkite. We believe that we were getting basic news and it was our job to form an opinion of what we heard.
The Lubbock Avalanche Journal was a trusted news source for me for many years. I also trusted the three major networks that we received on our rural West Texas television -- ABC, NBC and CBS. Many years later we came to trust CNN when they provided such great coverage of military action in the Middle East. We felt that we were getting the raw news.
Today, that isn't the case. We no longer subscribe to a newspaper, although we might should. We get our news online. I follow several news outlets. Each provides a very different slant on the same information. Often a story generated by the Associated Press is published in multiple sources. They each provide their own headline. It is very revealing to compare those headlines.
I admit that sometimes I am lazy. I also follow Twitter and Facebook. Sometimes friends "tweet" or post links to "news" stories through those mediums. They obviously are propagating views that fit their own worldview for the most part and that bias is fairly obvious. However, sometimes the sources of their "news" stories are questionable. The stories are complete fabrications that are part of the information wars of groups with a political agenda.
I wish we could get back to the days when news was just news and we could trust the sources. Today I don't even trust the major news outlets. Too often commentary is placed and touted on the same level as news and far too often the bias of the reporter is clearly written into their coverage of an event.
I don't know the answer of how we can get back to being able to trust the news. For now, I will continue to read multiple sources and hopefully form a reasoned opinion as to what is going on. I will do that knowing that we are in the middle of a war and that much of what passes for news is laced with propaganda.
In this world of deception it is comforting to know the Truth and it has set me free. John 8:32
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