‘Fake news’ not new

I can’t stop laughing. The Spokesman is sounding the alarm about “fake news.” Apparently media propagandists are upset that certain outlets are making stuff up out of whole cloth instead of doing like they’ve been doing my entire lifetime - gerrymandering news to suit an ideology. Yes, “fake news” is a problem, but it certainly isn’t new.

Although it’s true the average voter is underinformed, our media have betrayed us, using this as an opportunity to further an agenda rather than to bring folks up to speed with balanced news. Their disdain for traditional values is not lost on us. Instead they embrace slop like moral relativism, which has helped shift priorities from truth to winning at all costs, which is precisely why folks no longer trust anything they say.

So, small wonder so many Americans have sought alternative news sources. If the mean-streak media had done their job, this search would have been unnecessary. Mercifully, the paradigm has shifted, as a kajillion sources are now available, but if some of those outlets prove unreliable, we’ll dump them, too.

Tom Frisque

Usk, Washington