As usual, I’ve done some thinking.
This time my thoughts veered toward why the fact the mainstream media is refusing to take the President’s ad money and his “100 Days” ad is a teachable moment.
See, inside of us all is a defensive streak and it really comes down to someone calling us to the carpet on our flaws to help wake us up. That is no different for the mainstream media.
The part of the 100 Days ad that got NBC, CNN, ABC and CBS to say no to running it was the term “fake news” splashed across the screen. Now, people have rightly told me the networks are well within their right to not accept the money nor the ad, and even my dad challenged me and asked “why would the networks admit this”?
He’s right, they wouldn’t! Yet, maybe it’s time they correct the records they lay out themselves before having to be called out on it. For instance, NBC allowed Brian Williams to go on and on about his helicopter story that was completely false until a vet involved in that helicopter crash called Williams out on FACEBOOK! That of course led NBC to demote Williams after a six month suspension to MSNBC.
Yes, external whistleblowers have called out journalists and politicians for years. While I don’t think we can ever change politician’s ways, I have hope that our mainstream media outlets can hold their journalists accountable, so we don’t have to and the President doesn’t have to!
Why did NBC let Brian Williams go on and on for years if they knew it was a false story? Why didn’t ABC fire George Stephanopolous after it was revealed he gave thousands of dollars to Hillary’s foundation? What happened to true journalism that went beyond a simple New York Times correction in the next day’s paper?
All of these questions and more are reasons why Trump wanted to include “fake news” in his ad, and yet the MSM is on the defensive. In reality, I feel they should be on the OFFENSIVE combating when reporters do say inaccuracies instead of just sitting back and waiting for the President or We The People to correct them.
That goes for all of us as well, we all need to be more on the offense in life, admitting our mistakes and moving forward, not sitting back and saying “this didn’t happen because of this”, etc. In other words as a radio host I know says we all have to OWN IT, the good times and the mistakes.
If we want to call out the mainstream media as a collective group for their mistakes because they won’t, time to truly call ourselves out when we make our own mistakes, and be on the OFFENSIVE moving the ball of life down the field yard by yard, day by day.
The Writings of Alex Garrett 