BP Editors
Is all news “fake” news? The answer depends greatly on who you ask.
Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to form fact-based opinions on news and world events because all news is inevitably biased. As much as some media outlets love to tout themselves as being balanced, major news outlets are owned by people with big political agendas.
Whether the news outlet is left or right-leaning, important facts are routinely cut from or misrepresented in major news stories depending on the narrative being presented. And that narrative doesn’t serve the public as a whole because it does not reveal the entire set of facts regarding any situation.
“News” these days is designed to tell you what to think and how to feel.
The Origin of the Term “Fake News”
The term “fake news” was thought to have been coined by President Donald Trump early in his presidency, but that’s fake news. CS Monitor did some digging and found that the term was used in the late 1800s by journalists when attacking rival journalists.
Indeed, the term fake news is not new and neither is, well… fake news. It’s been a problem for centuries and we can’t expect it to stop during our lifetimes and certainly not because of a pandemic.
In fact, the birth of the internet has given way to an abundance of fake news sources, as anyone can, quite literally, publish anything online.
It’s said that Obama was the first president to be elected by social media. Eight years later, during the 2016 election, the internet exploded with fake news that was widely spread through social media. This trend has continued throughout the Trump presidency.
Fake News and Coronavirus
Protesters who wish to see an end to the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns and closures are taking to the streets and aiming much of their anger towards reporters.
The level of anger directed at the media from these protestors was alarming. As always, I will tell a fair and unbiased story today. pic.twitter.com/5jCR0YY9VH— Kevin Vesey (@KevinVesey) May 14, 2020
What Are We to Believe?
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been difficult to get straight answers about the virus. We’ve been told many different things. “News” has devolved into a method of spreading rumors.
Coronavirus Rumors and Misinformation
It was created in a lab, or no it wasn’t manmade. It’s bioterrorism, it’s from a bat, it’s from eating a bat, it’s from drinking beer, Chinese people are spreading it on purpose, etc.
Millions will die, we can’t stop it, the world is resetting, it’s a hoax, it doesn’t really exist, it’s like the flu, vitamin D prevents it, vitamin C cures it, only the elderly are at risk, all people are at risk, babies are at risk, it doesn’t affect children, it does affect children, etc.
We don’t have enough respirators, we have plenty of respirators, we don’t have testing kits, we have plenty of test kits, hospitals are full, hospitals are empty, you should wear a mask and gloves, gloves don’t help, masks don’t help unless you’re sick, you can have no symptoms, you can be immune, it’s mutating, no sports until there’s a vaccine, sports must continue, etc.
What is the Truth?
It comes as no surprise to anyone that we can’t get a straight story. It’s incredibly frustrating and it all comes down to politics. One side believes the worst, the other tends to believe it’s “just the flu” and the two cannot see eye to eye. Therefore, the public is left to believe a lot of non-facts and conjecture about coronavirus. The truth is out there somewhere, but digging it out of fake news can be difficult.
No Clear Correct Data
Even data sources differ on the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths. Some states have rolled back their death toll numbers because counting deaths from coronavirus has been left up to states and hospitals and errors have been made. If a person dies from a heart attack, yet tests positive for COVID-19 post-mortem, that death is counted as a coronavirus death. Therefore numbers have been artificially inflated.
As you can see, the public has been misinformed by the media, The World Health Organization, the CDC, the president, Dr. Birx, Dr. Fauci and many others. Whether the misinformation was purposeful, we may never know. However, it’s a fact that politicians never let a good crisis go to waste, so be careful about taking anything at face value.
At this point, it’s all just fake news.
