The Truth is out there….somewhere
I was SO happy!
In the last eNews, I wrote that I was interested to hear how people get their news. How do you know it’s impartial and that the facts are correct. Having asked this question, I was SO happy when I had a reply.
“That’s a really good question and one that’s very relevant in todays mad world. I’d be interested in the results too. Our primary source of news remains the BBC, although we tend to consume it via the web-site these days, rather than the 10 o’clock news, to allow us time to process the seriously upsetting stuff before trying to go to sleep. You’d like to think that the BBC is a fair and impartial source but on the odd occasion when they’ve run a story where I have some knowledge of the subject, we’ve found their impartiality and accuracy to be lacking a little.
On that basis, we now have a digital subscription to the Daly Telegraph as well, and we try try and use that to get a balanced picture of whats going on in the world.
Neither of us do Facebook, and we would not believe any news received via that medium because of the interest filtering and lack of editing on their part, and we’re also not on Instagram, Twitter or similar social media.
I’m still a member of LinkedIn, which I always saw as the professional end of the social media spectrum, but I’m seeing changes there that are moving it away from the professional and more towards the political/trivial interest end of the spectrum, so I would not trust any news stories on that site any more unless I personally knew the author or had worked with the company in question.
All of which is sorry state of affairs really.”
My Problem
The letter above more or less highlights my own problem with the news and also the greater problem we seem to face in believing what we are told.
For instance TEN times (the last time was this week) the Prime Minister has stood up in Parliament and claimed that there are more people in work now than there were before the pandemic began. However the Official ONS figures show that are 600,000 fewer. A fall of 1.1%
This is just one instance (x10) from just one person shows how little truth means today. Are we now so happy that we all accept mis-facts from our leaders?
Free Speech is a precious thing and something we should never take for granted. However, I think that the Freedom to speak should be backed up with the necessity to prove your facts.
For example, a Sunday Newspaper said that a MP was distracting others by crossing and uncrossing her legs and mentions “un-named sources”. However, when asked to meet the Speaker of the House regarding these “sources” the Editor refused to meet him in order to protect them. So once again we have a totally unsubstantiated story. Can this right? To publish with no fear of having to prove whether it is true.
Elsewhere in the world, we now have a Mr Trump owing a platform called “Truth” and a Mr Musk owning “Twitter”. Two people who are prone to…slightly exaggerate
My Answer
In short, I wish I had one. I struggle to find News that is Truthful and unbiased. We have just been through a Pandemic where untold people died because they believed the “Truth” forwarded to them by a friend on WhatsApp or “Facebook”.
However I have, along with 18,000 others, signed the petition to send a message to MP’s that they are here to lead us, not mislead us.
In the end, I think that the answer lies with us. Me and You. Every time we receive a WhatsApp, a Facebook post or Instagram Post we have to question whether it is true or untrue. Don’t take it for granted. We MUST reply to those spreading untruths. The same for those in power. Question their “facts” and don’t let them repeat untruths again and again.
“If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes truth”— unknown
For those interested in my own sources.
- The Times – Subscription
- The Guardian – Subscription
- The Telegraph – Subscription
- Bloomberg
- Politico – Good for Polls
- UK-ICE – Interesting articles
- Vox
- BBC – Of Course
- Google News – Surprisingly good
- Also at present follow certain Russian Youtubers.
Richard. 29 April 2022
Your comments are always welcome.