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Propaganda or Enlightenment?

I have been thinking about the role of the media and the responsibilities that it has to the citizens of America. I have repeatedly, and for the past several years, been hearing the words "fake media" and "fake news". I want to preface this with the statement that I am not striking out towards politicians alone. These are phrases that I hear daily from a multitude of people. I am not sure, however, if we are truly being misled or that we simply are being made aware of things that we do not want to admit are real. We have trouble accepting things that we cannot visually see. While it is the job of the media to be a watchdog of sorts, the media is also free to choose stories that they wish to enlighten us with. With an entire legion of news outlets at our immediate disposal, it is ever so hard to find one that seems forthcoming with our concerns at the center of it. This is where confirmation bias rears its ugly head. We tend to lean towards a news outlet that is a carbon copy of the way we see things and the way we view our government. In many situations, our government will go as far as to steer us towards a certain outlet. I find this exceedingly disturbing as this is not the job of our government. The government should never take on the responsibility of migrating the nation towards a certain form of reporting. For this reason, we are seeing droves of conspiracy theories taking shape and that reminds me of historical tragedies that have taken place in the past. History will always repeat itself if we do not educate ourselves and look for warning signs of trouble to come. While it is the duty of a journalist to report the truth and protect us from our government, it is never the job of that said government to protect us from the journalists. The latter pressures us to grow paranoid and puts our country under duress. The media plays a monumental role in protecting America's citizens from government corruption. The media is not the enemy and should not be viewed as such. Aside from unreputable sources, journalists are your friends, not your enemy. Being told otherwise can hinder your ability to see what really lies beneath conspiracy theories and the reason that they exist. 


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