Dan Rather Is Telling Us How to do What?

I suppose the old saying of “it takes a thief to catch a thief” has a certain “truthiness” to it after all.

Dan Freakin Rather was a guest on the Young Turks (I’m not familiar with the show but it really big on YouTube because it apparently takes place inside a gay bordello (NTTAWWT) in Istanbul where, naturally, they discuss progressive politics).

In identifying fake news and figuring out what to believe, if you are truly invested in the work of being a good informed citizen, may I respectfully offer a short primer.

Number One. Understand that trusting a news outlet doesn’t mean they’re perfect, no one is perfect. It means they tell you when they screw up.

Number Two. Don’t rely on just one news outlet.

Number Three. Don’t rely on just the news to understand an issue. Read books. Find the experts. Find out how issues are discussed outside news.

Number Four. If you find yourself agreeing with everything your news outlet says, you’re doing it wrong. If your news doesn’t challenge you, challenge your news.

Number Five. Find a commentator whose politics differ from yours. Intellectually honest even though their values differ from yours. If you can’t find such a person, maybe the media is not the problem.

And Number Six. Remember that what the news tells you is far less important than what they decide to talk about in the first place. If they focus on personal, speculative and salacious stories, find a new outlet; one that drills in on issues that actually effect real lives [like Stormy Daniels, I suppose], your wallet or pocketbook, health or education, schools, social justice, the environment. The true test of trustworthy journalism isn’t that they never make mistakes, it’s whether they are willing to challenge the powers that be on behalf of those without power.

Just a couple of thoughts on this. First and foremost, Dan Rather has never apologized to George Bush for pushing bogus documents into the public domain that were calculated to slander Bush and cost him the presidential race. In fact, I don’t think Rather has ever admitted the documents were fake. Where this assclown gets off on lecturing us about #FakeNews is beyond me. If there was justice in the universe, he’d had spent the years since 2004 being buggered by a tribe of rabid orangutans. Secondly, journalism isn’t activism. Point number six is in irresolvable conflict with being an informed citizen. That goes a long way towards explaining the loss of faith by the public in the media.

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