News-less

We are careless with such phrases as "fake news." Do we mean "fraudulent" news, implying not only inaccuracy but deliberate deceit? Or are we talking about biases that are a necessary part of any human conversation? We each take different "slants" when we report events. It is as simple as seeing a car accident from one side or the other of the street. I think, though, the real problem is different. I think in involves what we actually mean by "news," as well as responsible "news" reporting. Social media and 24-hour online news are mostly entertainment and grievances. Or 25 (it seems like it) hours beating the same rhythm on the same drum. They seek attention and of course financial gain. The traditional news media, newspapers and serious journals, are different, or should be. They hire journalists that attempt to "tell it" accurately and editors that see "real" news as what people need to read as much as what people want to read. In this sense "news" is what a citizen of a free society needs to hear to be a good citizen. As well, I believe, what a person needs to know in order to live a life of responsible choices. You can drive down a road at 70 miles an hour where a bridge is out, but I hope you don't. Freedom, that is minimal restraint on one's action from "authorities," means very little if you are living in an illusionary world. What good then are your choices? I think some newspapers today are courageous. They carry stories about elections in Japan, famines in Africa, conflicts in the Americas. They have limited budgets; many traditional sources of advertising have changed venue. They still do not pander, even when they also report what we want to know, deaths and accidents and sports. And even comics. But these are also useful knowledge. And even "comics" have a bite we need to feel. Take a recent "Baby Blues" panel. The younger brother asks his father, "I just heard that July is almost over. Why didn't anybody tell me?" His father replies, "There's a four-foot by four-foot calendar on the kitchen wall." He replies, "I just go in there for cookies." I fear this says better what I've been trying to say in this column. You say it is exhausting trying to keep up with "real" news. I say it is much more exhausting listening to the endless prattle of trivial repetition, yesterday's feature tragedy, or deliberate misrepresentation. You probably aren't reading this unless you subscribe to a newspaper. Thank you, from all the rest of us who want to live in a free democratic society. John Bing is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Heidelberg University and writes a by-weekly newsletter at johnb0c.substack.com