You’d ‘Rather’ what?

             

Those of you who know us have more than likely heard us mention that we suffer from ‘the curse of an active mind.’  Those of you who don’t know us should be thankful for small blessings.

In recent weeks, meaning mostly since the election four weeks ago, there’s been much talk in both print and electronic media of a ‘fake news’ phenomena sweeping our system of journalism and the ‘free press.’  Which is to say that serving the purposes of ‘informing the public’ and ‘government watchdog’ is a load of crap in more ways than one.

As we reflected on the general subject, we couldn’t help but recall the case of Dan Rather, the journalistic ‘icon’ pictured above, breaking the story about false documentation for Bush W’s service in the Air National Guard.  As the story unfolded, it became clearer and clearer that the so-called evidence supporting the claim was in fact falsified.

In response, ‘big media’ attempted to turn this sow’s ear into a silk purse by inventing the story line that it wasn’t so much the accuracy of the evidence that mattered, as it was the ‘seriousness of the charges.’

In other words, they can make anything up they like, and even if the ‘evidence’ that they put forward won’t hold water, you all need to listen to them because the ‘charges are so serious,’ even if they are a total fraud.  This was a major step forward in journalism living up to our low expectations.

We can’t help but wonder if this isn’t the MO behind the WGME/Kathy Wilson story we’ve posted about in recent days.  Shirley this isn’t a case of trumped up charges making headlines because the ‘charges are so serious.’  Not here in Brunswick, where all the kids are above average, all the women are good looking, and all the men are hard-working.

We don’t know, but we promise you this.  We’re not going to let this story go until we get to the bottom of it. And when we do, we will do the honorable thing in response, wherever that might place the monkey.

Those with details to pass along know how to reach our offices, and we look forward to the help.

Technorati Tags: fake news,the press,human rights Task Force