Recently the local Gannett newspaper ran a story that was headlined “Americans struggling to pay for utilities”. The implication is that inflation is strangling household budgets and you, the reader should be unhappy about that. But the article goes on to admit that actually home heating costs are down from last year by about $142/month (an almost 15% REDUCTION). Rather than relish the lower costs–mainly caused by a warmer-than-average winter (read as “global warming”)–the newspaper chose to decry how bad things are. To add anxiety to the reader, the article went on to bemoan the loss of child tax credits. Ask yourself “What does a change in the ability to pay utilities have in common with the loss of a child tax credit?” If you answered “Nothing” you understand the point. Managed news to create anxiety in the reader is done for several reasons. First, it casts negative feelings on the current Democratic administration because, in theory, they are the cause of the inflation that makes it difficult to pay those bills. Second, it prompts the reader to want to read the newspaper again to follow the story–that is–it sells papers. (TV talking heads do the same thing.) Third, it increases ad dollars for the newspaper as more readers opt for the hard copy or the digital versions. And fourth–and you may think this is foolish but–it fills space. Newspapers have typically shrunk in size (number of pages) over the years. So writing of almost any quality is filler. Example: one day the local paper published an article saying it’s not necessary yo rake leaves in the Autumn. The very next day, the same paper had a 500 word column saying EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE….FILLER!!! So the message is: don’t believe everything you read especially with the evolution of Artificial Intelligence. And, PLEASE, SUSPECT ALL POLITICAL ADS FROM ALL SOURCES AS WE HEAD TOWARD THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS.
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