Distrust and Democracy: Social Media vs. Legacy Media

We need a new and improved Fairness Doctrine

In discussing the results of the election among friends, acquaintances, and strangers, the claim came from one that we cannot trust mainstream media to determine which votes are legal. It was predictable. So were the responses, asking for evidence of wrongdoing followed by a flurry of links that no one is reading. All of this was utterly predictable.

This is the mess we’re in.

The only thing I could not have predicted was the shift in reporting after election day. Rather than attempt to document and refute Donald Trump’s fact challenged statements, post-election coverage seems to have adopted the convention of quoting Trump’s latest Twitter assertion preceded by, “without evidence.”

Without evidence, Donald Trump claimed the sun was the moon.

Why couldn’t the press have standardized this five years ago? As parenting expert John Rosemond recommends for toddlers; the best way to respond to a petulant child is with a decidedly non-dramatic response.

Look, I understand the skepticism of those who distrust the media. They often don’t see their views reflected in the stories and coverage. The media has its biases, the most glaring its need to be relevant. So it plays into the drama and sometimes becomes an actor in the story. So much of the media’s foibles, though, are a reflection of us. Would we pay attention without the…