April Fools’ Day is a time-honored tradition that has existed for… well, no one really knows. Why April 1st has achieved its notoriety has long been debated. However, it is wise to consider that the following quotation is appropriate while attempting to discern the way forward and is useful in critical thinking.

However, today we see some newspapers, magazines, and other published media report fake stories, which are usually explained the next day or below the news section in small letters not only on April 1st but throughout the news cycle ... all in the effort to undermine and/or politicize some policy or person with whom they share a difference.

In general, the mainstream news (MSM) organizations has often sought to undermine stories which have made it into the alternate news hemisphere by labeling their stories as fake news. Likewise, when alternate news breaks stories which the liberal and/or progressive editors find conflict with their agenda, the easiest way to discredit those stories is to either label them fake news or to ignore them entirely.

There are many instances where the alternate news organizations and/or blogs initiated coverage such as the Barack Obama passport issue, the Obama college transcript and/ financial aid issue and the question about his birth place. Was Barack Obama born in Kenya or in Hawaii? There continues to be questions about the authenticity of his birth certificate by various forensic experts which cause concern by many in the U.S. Barack Obama refused to grant access to his college transcripts and financial aid applications.

The question about whether Obama was legally a citizen of the U.S. after having been adopted by his Muslim step-father shall haunt his Presidency for many years. The fact that the Democratic Party and liberal and/or progressive journalists did not properly vet Barack Obama suggests to many that they are willing to bend the rule of law to achieve their agenda.

Even today after eight years of the Obama administration, the fact that there remains a question about the legitimacy of the Obama Presidency is a stain on the rule of law.

The United States of America is a constitutional republic and one of the fundamental tenets is that the rule of law serves every person equally and with justice.

There are many citizens who still wonder whether the Obama administration was lawful according to the Constitution. However, the editors and journalists who inhabit the mainstream press including newspapers, magazines, radio and TV were not interested in really finding the answers to the above questions because of the narrative which they had created around Barack Obama.

Fake News ... or is it just biased?

Since the election of Pres. Donald Trump, there has been a great deal of discussion over what constitutes "fake news."

In today's political environment it is obvious that the majority of so-called journalists and reporters have been trained by journalism schools with a decided emphasis on liberal and/or progressive programs.

As a result, it should be no surprise that the bias of the reporting and the selection of stories to be run along with their headlines are largely tilted towards the liberal and/or progressive viewpoint.

The bias can not be denied.

 A mere 7 percent of journalists identify as Republicans, and when they do give money to political campaigns they usually donate to Democrats, lending evidence to Republican presidential candidates’ claims that they are facing a hostile audience when they deal with the press according to a report in the Washington Times in November 2015.

When questions to be asked in a Presidential debate are given to one candidate in advance, there should be no doubt that bias exists.

So, is it "fake news"? Or is it "disinformation" as George Orwell suggested in 1984.

In either case, truth is the victim.

But then - 'Tis Only My Opinion!

Fred Richards
April 1, 2017

www.adrich.com
www.strategicinvesting.com

Corruptisima republica plurimae leges. [The more corrupt a republic, the more laws.] -- Tacitus, Annals III 27

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