Panic Porn Goes Viral: Says Source

When I started out at a daily newspaper in 1989, I learned of the practice: “???? ???? ????????????, ???? ??????????.” HBO political talk show host Bill Maher (@BillMaher) is correct in what he says in his April 17 "Real Time with Bill Maher" segment: N?? R???: P???? P???. (Great lead.) Perspective is always what’s needed. 

Unfortunately, we live in a world of Reality TV, with cast members in positions of power that fan flames of fear and that know how to spin to their advantage. In Reality TV, it’s all for the ratings.

Too bad, this is real life.

Unfortunately, media (with rare exception) seems to have lost its objectivity, too. It always has had to walk the line between facts and opinion; it used to be clearer what was what.

When I was at the Daily Herald newspaper, we had “special sections” and in those, we’d run things that looked like articles, but they were actually propaganda — advertisements made to look like news. Whenever we ran those, we had to have them carry a banner labeling them “ADVERTORIAL” so people would know they were being “sold” or “pitched a proposition” — today, those boundaries are blurred. And we’re too stupid or lazy or innocent to realize the sources and their intentions. 

Bill Maher, himself, has his own biases. We all do. Hiding the truth and manipulating is wrong. Sensationalizing and inflaming the truth is wrong. 

I recently got called out for an article I wrote for the Daily Muse. The Muse wrote the headline to my piece, a pretty shocking declaration that is not at all what the article I wrote is about. The readers calling me out got my response and an education about who writes what and why — and each one told me that they had no idea that that is what happens. It shouldn’t. And it's disconcerting that more people don't realize it.

What I know to be true is this: The pendulum always swings from one end to the other. No one is always right or always wrong. Considering the source and fact-checking is more important than ever now with so many media outlets and the importance put on celebrities and their intelligence and character and capabilities just because we see them on TV.

When I worked at PR Newswire and Marketwire, publicity and other news releases weren't allowed out the door and into the public domain unless the sources were clearly indentified and publicly stated. Unfortunately, our consumption of content has news programs and perceived authority figures regurgitating stuff without investigating or communicating what they say as being what they often actually are = advertorials.

It isn't just the media. It isn't just politicians. Same holds true in a court of law. An attorney I know told me that a case has very little to do with facts or the law; rather, it’s the “interpretation” and “presentation” of those facts that determine who is found guilt or confirmed innocent.

Sobering, I know.

I’ve pontificated way too long. And what I have shared is laced with my own bias and baggage. So let me be clear: Th?i?s i?s m?y o?pi?ni?o?n. You make up your own minds. And then decide what you want to think or do about it.