Trending
Whatever happened to the news? These days, it seems most people believe much of what is printed, broadcast and posted is "fake news."
What is, or should be, troubling is the dichotomy regarding what constitutes "fake news."
One faction of Americans, tens of millions strong, regards any report even slightly negative toward President Donald Trump as "fake news."
But another, also tens of millions in size, sees any report that may suggest Trump is right in any way as "fake news."
Any conservative who makes a valid point is automatically labeled a liar by one group of people. Likewise, any liberal saying something sensible is regarded by the other side as not capable of being truthful.
Meanwhile, those of us in the middle -- and I think that still includes the vast majority of Americans -- wonder what kind of Kool-Aid both the ultra-leftists and the ultra-rightists are drinking.
Answer this question for me: Who started the melee in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend? Literally, who threw the first punch (or projectile)?
I can predict with reasonable certainty how many people will respond.
As for the two sides in the riot -- white supremacists and those protesting against them -- the answers are even more predictable. Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi leaders insist they were set upon and police did nothing to protect them. The anti-bigotry camp says the supremacists were to blame.
Now, one thing has to be kept in mind. I've had personal encounters with a few KKK types. They are belligerent, disgusting excuses for human beings. Calling them "white nationalists," as some in the media have, is fake news itself. That doesn't begin to describe their sick ideology.
But did they actually strike the first blows in Charlottesville? We don't know. The police haven't said. With any luck, investigations by local and state police and the FBI will provide answers and, hopefully, prosecutions.
Again, however, millions of people already have decided their side could not possibly have been in the wrong.
We do know that, as Trump attempted to point out, blame for riots can be shared. The "Antifa" -- short for anti-fascist -- group espouses violence against conservatives. Its black-clad adherents have been videotaped engaging in violence and intimidation.
So here we have two opposing groups of thugs, each of which has defenders who would never think of engaging in violence themselves. Anything wrong with this picture?
Back to "fake news." It does exist and much of it is aimed at Trump and conservatives in general. Anyone in the press unable or unwilling to admit that simply isn't being candid.
But understanding some in the press are engaged in a vendetta against Trump doesn't mean all reports reflecting negatively on him are false.
Perhaps the most famous bit of "fake news" in American history dates back more than two centuries, to the days when the press was unabashedly partisan. People then tended to buy the newspapers that reinforced their points of view, with little regard for accuracy.
One editor, James Callender, wrote a series of articles in 1802 stating that Thomas Jefferson had several children by one of his slaves, Sally Hemings.
For around 150 years, that was labeled by many, including some scholars, as "fake news." Now we know it wasn't.
Callender, for you conspiracy theorists, met a sad end. After a night of heavy drinking in July 1803, his body washed up on the bank of the James River. No one saw him fall in …
We in the press need to clean up our act -- though, I have to tell you, we at this newspaper work very, very hard to be objective and accurate. When we make mistakes, as we do, we try to admit and correct them.
But the second half of the equation is tens of millions of people on opposite ends of the political spectrum who have decided anything that doesn't agree with their preconceived notions must be "fake news."
We need to get over that. It's a dangerous attitude in a democracy.
Myer can be reached at: mmyer@theintelligencer.net.