I was raised by parents who took news seriously. They always turned the TV and Radio volume up at the top of the hour and everyone was expected to listen, including the children. Of course we hated it, preferring to listen to music instead. My Mum also usually returned home with a newspaper although I have to confess I was more excited about the puzzles and entertainment news and would use the pages with news articles to cover my school books, as did many of my classmates. One thing that hasn’t changed over the years is news coverage on mainstream media channels. To this day, nearly every Radio and TV Station broadcasts the day’s top stories and many of us tune in to catch up with the latest local and global stories which then become talking points in school, at work and even places of worship. There’s an unwritten rule that if something makes the news, it must be true or legitimate. For years, I barely questioned anything I watched on established news channels like CNN, BBC or even Al Jazeera. They’re still my go-to channels for news but my perception has changed, more so in the wake of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. At first, I thought it was the usual “Blame everything on the Media” narrative but anti-mainstream media activists actually have a point. Some reporting is clearly skewed in favour of certain candidates and causes. The fact that over the years, few people have openly challenged media establishments perhaps allowed some of them to take advantage of their audiences’ naivety. We’re too lazy or busy to do our own research and wait on reporters to do all the work for us. We then sit back and consume whatever they feed us and do a great job sharing whatever we see or hear with our friends. It would be nice if we all did some fact-checking but unfortunately, that too is complicated because at the end of the day, whatever information is out there was put out by someone and there’s no guarantee it is accurate. A common saying is “Google It” whenever we don’t know something or are simply trying to learn more about certain things but sadly, as resourceful as the Internet is, there’s a lot of misleading and inaccurate information out there. It’s hard to control what people post and because anybody can share whatever they want, we end up with all kinds of information. There was a time you could look up a health condition online and get helpful advice. Not anymore because while you may get thousands of tips on how to alleviate a certain ailment, many are bogus and simple illnesses are blown out of proportion by self-appointed medical “professionals” out to profit off gullible Internet users. You have to skip or block multiple adverts just to read one line on those persistent migraines you’re getting before being asked to click another link for remedies. All the while, your personal data is being profiled and if you eventually locate the remedies, half don’t work or you knew all already. Now I totally understand why some of my friends only use the Internet to watch free movies!
