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The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth
Impediments to accurate news reporting and one possible solution to the problem (“fat chance!” you say?)
“As media companies become more and more reliant on subscription revenue, they evolve to telling the readers what they want to hear.” I quote Aaron Mishkin here. Mishkin is the man former President Trump would have fired, if he could have, for calling election results in certain states for Biden. Mishkin is considered by most Democrats and even some Republicans to be an honest and qualified interpreter of political data.
He is stating the obvious: If most of the customers at a Starbucks want a blueberry muffin with their morning brew, the 6:00 a.m. shift will not overfill the display case with cheese, onion, and garlic bagels. If you’re teaching a 4th-grade class of boys who love cars, most of the math problems you hand out may include words like “gallons” and “brake.” If you’re the publisher of a news outlet deciding on the stories to broadcast today, your first consideration may be newsworthiness, but after that, it will certainly be what your readers want to hear.
So last year, Fox News and One America News reported on President Trumps’ executive order aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs and included a flattering…
