CBS anchor Scott Pelley said something profound at a 2013 speech at Quinnipiac University:
Op-eds are exactly where you would expect opinion to flourish, as it should. However actual news reporting should incorporate the events of the day while maintaining accuracy within a framework of unbiased reporting. Writers and reporters who are agenda driven wield their version of truth in order to convince their loyal audience towards a version of the facts as they perceive then....or wish them to be perceived. Scott Pelley admits this is occurring on a massive scale in our media cycles then and today. Was he thinking “fake news” perhaps? We must hold our media accountable if they indeed claim to be the administers of global information. We ask only that they give us all salient facts while simultaneously tucking their opinions in their back pockets. We require a nation of discerning thinkers, not intellectual clouds without water, drifting aimlessly about, kneeling to every woke emotional outburst.
For each of us, this should be a reminder to test all things we read, watch, or listen to in the media while holding fast and firm to the truth. The old cliche' "if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is" remains a golden nugget of truth to this day. America is strong because she was founded on eternal Truth, not a continually redefined vocabulary. Our present generation needs desperately to undergird her foundation with a reliable, consistent source of truth, lest she become weak and her foundation turn into clay.
Test all things. Hold fast to the good. 1 Thessalonians 5:21
Jim
Having been a newspaper editor for 10 years, I agree with your observations. I think 24x7 broadcasts contribute to the breakdown between news and opinion. When space and time are limited, you're forced to set boundaries and to sift the important and compelling. Now, "news" that isn't even news fills the air because the show must go on.
Fake news is no news at all. Discernment is at a all-time low. In fact, discernment is impossible without the indwelling mind of Jesus Christ.