By Brandon Sapienza, Contributing Writer
It was recently uncovered that the conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcasting Group forced anchors of their local affiliates to read off a script that highlighted fake news running through the mainstream media. The reasons why this story isn’t covered are unknown, but this situation is as the script said, “extremely dangerous to our democracy.” It is key to remember, there is no such thing as fake news running through the media, only political biases.
We live in a country where trust in the mainstream media is at an all-time low. Just 32 percent of Americans trust the media a significant deal/fair amount, according to a Gallup Poll. For the other 68 percent, their trust is low, and this, in turn, creates an uneducated and uninformed American public. In comparison, trust in the media was at a high point during the Watergate Scandal and the Vietnam War, which marked times in which the United States was at its most chaotic.
Now, insert groups like the Sinclair Broadcasting Group into the shuffle of mistrust and deceit, and the situation gets much worse. A viral Facebook video showed a number of smaller news outlet anchors reading this script produced by the company; it sounds like something a villain would use to brainwash someone. Although it might seem far-fetched, brainwash is the right word to use. Dozens of local stations are spewing out this false narrative that there is fake news spread by the mainstream media.
There is bias, yes, but fake news is not a real thing amongst the leading cable news outlets. The left-leaning bias seen at CNN, and the right-leaning bias at Fox News, is the real threat to our country. These outlets can deny their political biases, but they are authentic and prevalent in every story. That brings into question, “Are we a country that has freedom of the press?” In fact, we most certainly do have freedom of the press. However, the real problem is whether or not people are free from the press. That is a real debate. Americans are glued to their TVs watching the news on a local or national scale, and they are looking at biased media that brainwashes them to share the same views of their respective networks or corporations.
In times like this, Americans and the mainstream media need to look towards one of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, who once said, “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.” Biased media is unfree media, and it is a detriment to our free country.
