Larry D. Lauer

Traditional journalists report both sides of every issue.   

But the challenge for reporters today is to separate lies, cruelty, chaos, and self-serving claims, from truth and facts. It has become virtually impossible to report only truth, and still report both sides.

The fact is, media revolutions have completely changed journalism. 

Early thinkers assumed that new media technology would bring people together and increase understanding. But the opposite is what happened. Differences became magnified, anger was amplified, and a peaceful global village became a distant dream. 

The Internet also produced an illusion of personal invisibility.

It became possible to be cruel and remain distant. And it enabled autocrats to form choirs of supporters and give them only emotional satisfaction. 

Chaos is becoming unbearable for most of us, and many in the political party most responsible for this mess have been ducking responsibility by saying, “We love his policies, but hate his politics.”

Today we have an entire population trying to deal with an out-of-control pandemic, huge numbers out of work, growing food lines, and a culture filled with increasingly-confusing fake media.

The biggest danger of all is that we have a president who is playing only to the emotions of his base, and is totally focused on forming an autocracy with unqualified family members and loyalists ready to carry out his daily whims.

Simply put, we must do whatever it takes to save our incredible democracy.