The Press doesn’t get facts

Last updated on: March 7, 2011 at 10:16 am by Dave Griffey

The Press doesn’t get facts 2011-03-07T10:16:00-04:00 Dave Griffey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’ve blogged many times on the flagrant advocacy that are our modern propaganda ministries disguised as news outlets. One of my biggest peeves is that we haven’t learned one of the most crucial lessons of the 20th century – that the ability to brainwash the masses through global institutional communications is one of the most powerful weapons ever invented by man. Not nuclear or biological weapons. No. It’s the ability to use mass media to sway opinion, even if it is toward opinions based on lies, falsehoods, and evil.

Much of the time the problems are based on pure propaganda. Deliberate suppressing of truth, manipulating of truth, twisting of truth, and just ignoring truth in order to advance an agenda. A great example of that was a previous post’s story of a woman who decided to abandon her family to focus on herself. The author, all awash in admiration for this brave woman’s priorities, probably realized that deep down it’s a pretty deplorable thing to walk out on one’s family. So rather than wrestle with the ethical implications, the Shine journalist decides to place it against the hypocrisy of our age where, apparently, men are able to abandon their families to indulge in a lifetime of self focus and nobody cares. Except, or course, that’s a lie. If a man were to divorce wife and abandon kids with the excuse that he wants to focus on himself, he’s pretty much toast in the public mindset. Certainly he’s done for in any feminist outlets.

So that’s a great case where the media loves to make a quick false statement as if it’s simply common knowledge, then move on in the hope that nobody pays attention. This happens with the hope that somehow, it just seeps into our collective consciousness.

Of course beyond the obvious agendas, biases, prejudice, bigotry, and beliefs that cause so much just suspicion of the media, are the cases where they just get information wrong. I remember when I was in middle school. A local family was traveling in a small plane to Florida when they crashed. All were killed. It was pretty big in our school. We even had a memorial in our gymnasium – a rare thing back then. The Columbus news channel that reported it said that a family from Marion, Ohio was killed. They weren’t from Marion. They were from Mt. Gilead. Just north of Edison to be exact. Even then, I thought, “How could they get such an easily verifiable fact wrong?”

Well, nothing has really changed. In this piece on the ever reliable NPR, we are introduced to Jose Gomez, Los Angeles’s new Archbishop. This is the opening sentence:

“Jose Gomez, the first Latino archbishop in the U.S., takes the helm of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angles on Sunday.”

The problem? Jose Gomez is not the first Latino archbishop in the U.S. That would be Robert Sanchez, a priest of Santa Fe who was made archbishop there in 1974. He was later forced to resign. Five years later, Patricio Flores became archbishop of the San Antonio archdiocese in 1979. I know, it seems picky. But facts are facts. We are supposed to trust the media to tell us what is happening in the world. To know what is going on. To know this and not that is the solution we should pursue. It’s tough enough when every fibre of our being screams that they are not being truthful, that they are manipulating data to advance agendas. But when you realize that even if they were being truthful, such flagrant and easily remedied factual errors occur, even the most trusting reader and viewer has to approach any media story with a certain level of caution.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

March 5, 2011

An author embraces the ultimate in narcissism

Next Post

March 7, 2011 Sam Harris debunked, phase II

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Atheism Awesome things Bigotry for the hip American Blogging Books Catholic Catholic Teaching Catholics on the Internet Christian Persecution Christian Unity Christianity and America Christianity in the Post-Modern World Christianity in the world Culture of Death Culture of Life Current Events Decline and Fall of the Christian West Defending Liberty Fun Stuff Global Warming Good Causes Good News Gun Control Health Care History Holidays Homeschool Humor Important things Inspiring Stories Interesting Insights Interesting Stories Islam and the West Liberal "Tolerance" Liberal observations Life in a post-Christian world Memorial Movies Musings News Other Blogs Our Big Politically Correct Bother Politics Popular Culture Post Modern Values Prayers Pro Life Promoting LGBT Protecting Liberty Racism in the world today Scientism Social Observations Sports Strange Stories The Boys The Catholic Church and the Left The Decline and Fall of the American Dream The end of liberty The Faith and the Left The Faith and the Right The Family The Greatness of God The Internet The Leftist Juggernaut The LGBT Question The Media The Pope The post-liberal Left The Power of Propaganda Tributes Twilight of the American Experiment Uncategorized Uneducating Postmoderns When the Church is wrong Why learn from history when we can repeat it instead Wisdom in the Post Modern Age World Events

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Messiah" mean in both Hebrew and Greek?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Chosen Anointed one Beloved Sacrifice