There is a right and a wrong way to report the information necessary for the American people to become aware of what happens in Washington. One is an effort to impress the reader with big words and a prestigious degree in journalism, and the other is to boldly tell the truth by ignoring political correctness and simply “telling it like it is.” For a reason I cannot explain, the majority of the mainstream media refuses to report the truth about Trump and his administration, and to denounce him for what he is and what he is not.

They choose to use Trump’s own words in their articles; words which have been proven to be more than 90 percent false. In a very real way the press and television “news” allow Trump to appear credible. Trump’s approval rating would be as low as that of congress if the absolute truth were told by every reporter from a legitimate news agency or network.

Here is one example of how Trump’s lies are passed on to the American people, and for no value; no good reason. A relatively small percentage of Americans follow Trump on twitter, but the news agencies quote his tweets in their articles. Why? His tweets are nonsense and spread anger, hatred, racism, and xenophobia. If readers are not informed, some may actually believe these never-ending rants by the orange man.

Nothing is sadder for me than to know that I was a young man when true journalists and newsmen wrote articles and appeared on television; courageously telling the truth in 30 minutes. Of course there was no FOX Noise; no right wing propaganda machine in those days when honesty, integrity, and compassion were commonplace. Today we have 24 hour news networks which offer fewer facts than Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, John Chancellor, and others did in 30 minutes. They offered facts without opinions; this is called ‘the truth.’

Finally, a reality no one chooses to talk about. If the media had not given Trump five times more coverage than all other candidates combined during the 2016 campaign, while holding him to the lowest standard possible and refusing to expose him, Trump would not be soiling the White House Sheets with ‘special sauce’ and old man sweat today. The fourth estate is complicit, along with James Comey, and Vladimir Putin.

Let’s take our country back on November 6^th. Republicans must go. The American people deserve more women and younger Americans in general who are in touch with the majority of our nation’s working class. Low income and impoverished Americans compose one-half of our nation’s 320 million people. Time for real change.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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Photo courtesy of LBJ Library

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