The Good News is, ‘There’s no 'gatekeeper’
The Bad News is, ‘There’s no gatekeeper.”
The Bad News is, ‘There’s no gatekeeper.”
-Ben Shapiro
What Shapiro means is that there is nobody standing between you and your phone screen, telling you whether or not what you are reading contains truth. This is good, as we can see what happens when a government entity like North Korea stands between its citizens and the media.
At the same time, it gives a heavy weight of responsibility on the American people and American news companies, as there is nobody telling viewers how truthful the media is being.
At the same time, it gives a heavy weight of responsibility on the American people and American news companies, as there is nobody telling viewers how truthful the media is being.
The truth is that you are the 'gatekeeper.'
And the way you find truth is by seeing the news through as many angles as possible. Generally, the most popular news aggregators will not report with false facts. As much as Democrats might dislike Fox News, or Republicans might dislike CNN, neither network is likely to report with a completely false fact, because when it happens, the company loses money.
The problem with the FAKE NEWS critique is that it encompasses a lot of angles on the news
This is why I encourage you to use as many sources as possible, because it will help you find what might be false reporting while also understanding what is going on in the world much more accurately. This means that picking headlines that reinforce your bias are not going to bring you to the truth.
Picking one angle might satisfy you, but it often won't give you the entire truth.
Nobody has time to watch the news all day to find out what is true, so one shortcut that I prefer is: Real Clear Politics, which lists headlines based on events, coming from hundreds of news sources.
If you don't have time to do that, and are forced to choose one news source, try to find one that upsets both sides of the political spectrum. These companies are rare because most people want to listen to a company that agrees with them. I'm not aware of a good example of this today, as the political climate has become intensely polarized along with the media.
If I want you to remember one thing, it's the idea that truth can be found as long as you look hard enough for it. It is okay to depend on a media company to simply know what is happening, but it is dangerous to rely on the company to determine what it all means.
If you want to know the truth, look at it from every angle.
If you want to know the truth, look at it from every angle.