Media has for some time now been less about fact reporting and unbiased truths and more about keeping viewership through unethical tactics. These tactics include biased journalism, telling one side of a story, leaving out or even altering facts to make a story more sensational.
Journalists such as Dan Rather have expressed profound dismay at this new form of media as it really degrades the trust people have in journalism. The news used to be the news, now we are often left with more questions than answers. Questions such as “who owns this broadcasting company and what it their interest in promoting this narrative?” And “I know this to be untrue, so why is this being stated as fact?”
Mainstream media is in a decline and they will do anything to keep selling newspapers. Even if it means compromising their integrity. With the success of streaming services, cable television is becoming irrelevant, also. Therefore, they employ the same sensationalistic tactics, but they are also concerned with remaining “politically correct”. Being “politically incorrect” in 2022 comes with consequences. People lose their jobs for telling the unbiased, unvarnished truth. So what remains of mainstream journalism is the journalists willing to compromise their integrity in order to keep getting a paycheck.
If you believe what the mainstream media is claiming, you would believe that most Americans support unconstitutional mandates, enjoy being singled out and pandered to because of their “race”, as the black community has experienced, and that Covid-19 is the most deadly disease ever, killing thousands of people daily.
None of this is universally true. Some of it is patently false. There are of course, some radical left wing individuals who DO agree fully and unquestionably with this narrative, but when I speak to people of different backgrounds, and being of a “different background” myself, I have been told and observed that most people, even if they identify as “liberal” have reservations or outright disagree with this narrative.
Real life examples: an 18 year old mixed “race” but mostly black woman watching “the news” (mainstream media) with me when Sidney Poitier died. The media made a big deal of his black identity even though he was an excellent actor regardless of his ethnicity and this young lady says to me “why do they always have to bring up “black actor”?? Why can’t we just be people like everyone else??!”
Many parents of school age children who have never voted “conservative” have confided in me that they will be voting red this year. Why did they confide? Because I asked and promised not to reveal my sources. One gay man with depression who lives in the heart of the city said “my son is struggling with depression from the school shutdowns to the point of being suicidal, I didn’t know how to handle it and now I am depressed, also. I will be voting red for the first time ever this year”.
A mental health professional RN heard me interviewing patients and wanted her opinion known. She stated that “masks and Covid restrictions being enforced in the psych unit are coming down from the government and we have been threatened to be closed completely if we don’t follow them. We know that these restrictions (closing common rooms, mask wearing) is negatively impacting our ability to really help our patients but it’s either follow the restrictions or be shut down completely and when weighing the pros and cons we opted to not be shut down. Also we are short staffed due to lack of funding for mental health. This is not the normal level of staffing”. This woman spoke under the condition of anonymity, also.
In watching a video of an MD discussing the mandates and partisanship in Facebook videos, where viewers are able to comment, the doctor originally presented as pro-mandate and liberal. Many, many (I would say hundreds) of facebooks viewers commented at rapid fire pace that although they identify as primarily “liberal”- they do NOT support mandating this shot. They also condemned the doctor for making a “non partisan issue” partisan.
Short Stories by Kristina Tehrani 