Fake News

Fake news, fake news, fake news...

It seems that people convinced of their position who hear things they don't like, scream "FAKE NEWS!!!!"

Often their news source is one place, one that backs up their opinions on whatever issue. This opinion they may reinforce on various social media, decrying any disagreement.

My mother only read the Boston Herald. Her best friend only read the Boston Globe. Their views of the world were a prelude for the red and blue divide.

Not much will sway those that are exposed on only one point of view, one selection of facts.

They can watch a video clip and still think it is fake and to be fair a clip can be doctored. Sometimes they look at something live and still proclaim it is fake.

I never saw Fox News until this winter. No source. When Geneva television started carrying it, I wasn't impressed. As a journalist myself I could see where the slant was. This does not mean that other news media don't slant and mislead.

I think of the cartoon of the number 6. Two people stand, one on the top, one on the bottom. One claims it is a Six, the other a Nine. They are both right with the information they possess. The other can claim the other's point of view is fake news. They should walk around the number and see the other side is also correct.

And there is the story of six blind men each touching a different part of an elephant and only that part. They all swear they know what an elephant is like. Needless to say none do.

That is the problem of limiting sources be it direct or indirect experiences.

I'm a news junkie. Not just U.S. Papers but sources from around the world. Naturally, I can't read/listen to them all. Depending on the story I will scan or delve deeply into any given story.

One of my favorite programs is BBC's Dateline where reporters from different parts of the world give their take on the international news of the day. Sometimes I wonder if it is the same story. I decide that the divide is due to different experiences and culture.

I do pride myself on trying to be open minded by reviewing the following sources, not just one.

Newspapers scanned with some articles read in depth depending on issues at any given moment: Both liberal and conservative.

• Washington Post
• Boston Globe
• The Guardian
• The Independent
• The Scotsman
• Tribune de Geneve
• Le Temps
• Le Monde
• Le Figaro
• Le Temps

Television stations or online

• CNN
• Bloomberg 
• MSNBC
• BBC
• Sky News
• France24
• democracynow, org
• Euronews
• NHK
• i24
• RT
• Al Jazeera (my Arab friends think it's CIA run which I find  sadly amusing)
• TSR1
• DW (when in Geneva) 
• Euronews
• China Times
• Intercept

For those that want to find these sources and others.

• http://wheretodoresearch.com/News/Foreign_Newspapers.htm
• https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/news.html#Europe 
• https://www.quora.com/Where-do-I-find-unbiased-internationa…

I am fortunate by living in Geneva, I have a chance to make the acquaintance of people who have lived what others have only read about. I know them socially from get togethers, living in the same building and walking our dogs together, being in the same writing together. They are more than ambassadors of their countries or lower level staff. They are friends or at least pleasant and good acquaintances. It is far different to have a cup of tea with a Palestinian whose family was thrown out of their home when Israel was granted nationhood than just reading about it in a newscap.

I will admit I lack patience when someone who has only one news source and has never been out of their own living space claims fake news.

My former assistant used to say, "Ignorance can be corrected, stupidity is forever." In today's online world, there is no excuse for ignorance.