I am quite concerned that fact based opinion is going out of style. There are so many sources of information but these days, there are legitimate questions about what you can rely on.
In the past, most people got their news from the legacy media, i.e., the Big Three networks and mainstream newspapers and organizations like the AP. While those sources may have had a liberal bent, their reporting was largely factual.
Those organizations have become unreliable, not so much because they spread misinformation, but more because of what they choose to report on and what they suppress. Two current examples; the legacy networks did not show any coverage of President Trump’s dinner and speech with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and you have probably seen little discussion of the fact that US jobless claims hit a 57 year low.
The only explanation for this is a desire to keep any positive news about Donald Trump and the economy under wraps because they prefer to maintain a narrative that the economy is poor; presumably to enhance Democratic prospects in the upcoming election.
In the meantime, there are numerous outlets on the left and right that use their platform to promote agendas and their “reporting” is often soft on facts and heavy on opinion and persuasion. As a result, consensus is far more difficult to reach. I have spoken with friends who simply believe in an alternative set of facts about many topics. Donald Trump’s approval rating on the economy is only 35%, but the facts that the legacy media suppresses paint a much better picture of the economic shape of the country.
I am afraid that we have reached a point where facts no longer matter. Many of us only review and trust sources that confirm our biases and ignore information that does not jive with our worldview.
