John Balentine’s recent opinion (“Make the media great again,” Nov. 6) is an enigma.
Why? He envisions a future society with “direct sourcing of information … no filtering by editors and reporters …. just direct coverage …. from the newsmaker to news consumer.”
In Balentine’s new world order, propaganda of any sort is, thereby, legitimized. His hope: “We’ll have a pure democracy where information (propaganda) will be relayed directly to (media) viewers.” He desires this “directness” because mainstream media are “outright lying to us” by manipulating “parts of the overall story, all to fit their narrative.”
Balentine is “weary (of news) being filtered by out-of-touch professionals … furthering their pet narratives and causes.”
In complaining about the present news media, Balentine is actually describing his own reporting, e.g., he utilizes sensational propaganda (without facts/outright lies) to promote his “pet narratives and causes.” (See “Truths about Trump,” parts I and II, Oct. 16 and 23).
In addition, his concern that editors “filter” information is rather baseless. Why? The editors of The Forecaster have been AWOL with respect to fact-checking Balentine’s work – he has been repeatedly allowed to espouse lies, misinformation and disinformation without any exercise of control by the editors of The Forecaster.
Unbeknownst to Balentine, his new world order is already in operation. The cyber world is teeming with a variety of media platforms able to offer “direct sourcing of information with no filtering by editors and reporters.” We require information to function as a society, but “direct” unfiltered news is rather dangerous. Why? Unfiltered news incites violence, conspiracy theories, sensational propaganda, etc. We must employ appropriate “filters” – i.e., editors and producers who are willing to explore controversial topics, but who also understand such discussions must be founded on facts, as inconvenient as these truths may be.
John M. Mishler
Harpswell
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