About a year ago, America went through one of the most polarizing elections that she has ever seen. It was like a heavyweight fight at Madison Square Garden; we had Trump in the right corner just finishing up a tumultuous four years of being POTUS; and in the left corner, we had Joe Biden, former VP, and lifelong Senator. After heated words, billions of dollars spent, in an atmosphere filled with fear and hate, this presidential election turned out to be “one for the ages”. More Americans voted in the 2020 election than in any other election in U.S. history. Emotions ran high, while fear and hope saturated the atmosphere. Despite everything, in the middle of a raging pandemic, millions got out and voted while others mailed in their ballots.
One thing that truly marked this election, more so than others, was how divided America clearly turned out to be after the election. It seemed like the country was literally cut in half. So many relationships ended or became strained when people found out, to their horror, that their friends and family had an alternative viewpoint opposite of their own, leading to crushing disagreements. Folks were zealous in their divided beliefs and interpretations of what they thought was transpiring before them.
Many were questioning where their nation was headed, while greatly concerned for their children’s future. Through sophisticated marketing, voters were completely convinced that the wrong candidate would absolutely destroy what’s left of their country.
What was the common thread that helped bring about all this division, while everything was strained through it? This common thread was the American news media.
People everywhere were really stirred up through the media, and Christians were no exception to the rule. In order to traverse this volatile landscape, there are some crucial truths about the media such as “spin”, “the difference between journalists”, “filters”, and more, that we all must be familiar with.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32
THE MEDIA
Because of the internet and “for-profit news”, the competition for eyeballs and clicks has become fierce. Views and clicks equal big bucks. Unfortunately, “infotainment”, instead of “investigative reporting” usually gets the most clicks. “Infotainment, also called soft news, is a type of media, usually television and radio, that provides a combination of information and entertainment.[2] The term may be used disparagingly to devalue infotainment or soft news subjects in favor of more “serious” hard news subjects.” Because infotainment doesn’t have to be thoroughly vetted, it’s easy to make, and very addictive to their audiences. Desperate, and compromised news entities have discovered what sellers of physical products have already known; “you can’t compete in everything”. But the more niched your product, and the more of an expert you become in that niche, the higher chance of attracting and keeping a specific audience. It’s about keeping them coming back for more and more. So different news programs have become highly biased in their coverage cornering their particular niche. Unfortunately, certain mainstream media coverage either leans to the right, or to the left; the boring whole truth too often takes a back seat. If the coverage is heavily biased or full of partial truths, it’s just inevitable that people will come to distorted conclusions.
“We live in a world with fake news being put out there. You don’t really know what to trust, and it’s a real danger to society.” Austin Aries
SPIN
Today’s propaganda has a nicer word for deception that perfectly describes what many news outlets do. It’s the main ingredient in the recipe for infotainment; that word is “SPIN”. Spin basically takes any piece of news and through different techniques forces it to conform to a particular narrative, or as Whatis.com defines it below;
“Spin, in the context of public relations (PR), marketing and journalism, is the selective assembly of fact and the shaping of nuance to support a particular view of a story. Spin is considered one form of propaganda. To spin something is to communicate it in a way that changes the way people are likely to perceive it. As such, spin is intentionally misleading and can, in fact, give the opposite impression to what would naturally occur. Outright lies cannot be considered spin. However, inconvenient but relevant truths are often omitted in the process and less relevant but true details emphasized.
From national news shows, or MSM (mainstream media), to little YouTube channels, most indulge in it.
Some techniques of spin or poor journalism consist of—speculation, half-truths, conspiracy theories, cover-up, omission, little to no research, no perspective or meaningful context, very persuasive arguments built on opinion instead of facts, and only reporting on news that fits a particular bias. Combine all that with the acceleration of unethical, harmful deregulation which has over the years allowed media ownership to dwindle down from over fifty to just six huge companies (“About 15 billionaires and six corporations own most of the U.S. media outlets. The biggest media conglomerates in America are AT&T, Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, National Amusements (which includes Viacom Inc. and CBS), News Corp, and Fox Corporation (which are both owned in part by the Murdochs), Sony, and Hearst Communications.” titlemax.com)
Shockingly, these companies own 90% of what we hear, see, and read. Most would agree that this is an unhealthy situation. To have the nation’s media concentrated in a few monolithic hands is calamitous, especially in light of the following quotes:
” The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” Malcolm X
“He who controls the media controls the minds of the public.” Noam Chomsky
“Media manipulation in the U.S. today is more efficient than it was in Nazi Germany, because here we have the pretense that we are getting all the information we want. That misconception prevents people from even looking for the truth.” Mark Crispin Miller
“If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” Malcolm X
“A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself.” Joseph Pulitzer
“The media want to maintain their intimate relation to state power. They want to get leaks, they want to get invited to the press conferences. They want to rub shoulders with the Secretary of State, all that kind of business. To do that, you’ve got to play the game, and playing the game means telling their lies, serving as their disinformation apparatus.” Noam Chomsky
In a survey carried out in 2017 it was cialis india price gathered that in the UK 20% of men suffered ED, whilst in London, the percentage shot up to 40%. The total process helps cheap viagra in australia in providing one with improved blood functions; libido and sex drive as well. This will end up in viagra properien the dreaded DNS blacklist and at this point you could have to invest in the stock market during their term in office and for a good reason. Some foods are order free viagra very much beneficial for the sexual health.ARE ALL INFECTED
Are all news outlets in such a sad state of affairs? No, not yet. There are still independent outlets and good reporters that continue to do solid investigative journalism. But your chances of finding these types of reporters among the mainstream media, which is full of celebrity reporters being paid $30,000/day, are very slim. It’s unfortunate that celebrity reporters are more than willing to go along with the status quo while selling their souls for a dollar.
GOOD JOURNALISTS
Although difficult, you can still find hard-nosed independent journalists who are equally critical of both sides of the aisle; these journalists are willing to ask the tough questions and challenge the official narrative. Thankfully there are news shows and whistleblowers out there, national and international, that are willing to put their jobs, and even their lives in danger to get to the truth. It’s sickening that last year 66 journalists were killed worldwide for exposing the truth.
WHO SHOULD WE PAY MORE ATTENTION TO
What journalists are more likely to speak the truth? Those journalists that have been fired from MSM for speaking the truth, and have become independent journalists are a good place to start. It’s really an easy contrast between truthful journalists and those that aren’t. Is the journalist someone who is being persecuted while not being paid by mainstream media sponsors, or is it someone getting paid millions while parroting the official talking points of the day? Although whose paying or criticizing them isn’t a bulletproof way of determining the truthfulness of journalists, nevertheless, great journalists often times get on the wrong side of governments, corporations, or politicians, and unfortunately, experience horrible persecution and even death just for doing their job.
FILTER
It’s important to have some type of filter for whatever source you are analyzing. The most important filter is the word of God, which perfectly expounds on the true state of mankind. The following scripture is one of many that should be foundational in analyzing reports in the media.
Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. Rom 3:4
BIAS
One must know that if a newscast or journalist is hyper-critical of just one side of the aisle, then know that their information will be deeply skewed and distorted despite how plausible it may seem. All news seems to be truthful at the time, but always remember, the best kind of lies have some truth in them, but in the end, it’s still a lie. That old saying still stands, “there are two sides to every story.” Through deeper research, these one-sided lies collapse on themselves.
OUR APPROACH
So what is a healthy approach for Christian citizens during these constant national firestorms? How do we maneuver through all of this turmoil?
First, we must ask ourselves, does the Lord really want you spending a lot of time swimming in an ocean of corruption and spin that has dominated the mainstream narrative for decades? The bible does say watch and pray, but are you really praying about what you are watching? The following scripture seems to sum up what has happened to the church in America.
3Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. “4 A soldier refrains from entangling himself in civilian affairs, in order to please the one who enlisted him.” 2 Timothy 2:4
We are enlisted holy soldiers with assignments from the Most High, and yet we are entangled in civilian affairs.
Again I ask; is the news and governmental narrative of the land something that the Lord wants you to be completely indulged in; sapping all of your energy, producing nothing; or is He calling you to produce HIS particular and unique narrative that produces holy news from on high?
Secondly, when you do watch, is your source of news balanced and fair? If your news source is known for being biased, every piece of news you hear from them will be spun to fit a chosen narrative, which in turn will fill your mind with error. More than likely, a bouquet of independent, national, and even foreign news sources will get you closer to the truth than any MSM news by itself will.
IN CONCLUSION
Truly the church needs to pursue truth and pray about all things; recognize the corruption in our media, get untangled from worldly civilian affairs while fixing our eyes on Jesus, our Captain, and Commander.
“14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” Ephesians 4:14