By Jeffrey Ketner

It is with extreme sadness that I’ve observed the slow, agonizing death of free and unbiased reporting by the mainstream media in this country as evidenced by, but not limited to, the bias in favor of all issues and candidates purporting to represent the so-called “liberal” ideas and causes. Unfortunately, there would not be enough room in this entire newspaper for me to cite the many examples that abound. So, I’ll confine myself to a few of the more egregious examples that, hopefully, many of the folks who can still think for themselves will be able to read and assimilate so they can reach their own, informed, conclusions.
• It is my opinion that most so-called ”news” stories presented today by the mainstream media don’t represent news stories at all but instead represent what I would refer to as “editorialized news.” They might be as subtle as a reference to the recent Trump rally in Winston-Salem as a “near capacity crowd.” When, in fact, people waited several hours to get in and ultimately, many couldn’t. Or, as blatant an example as the reporting of Hillary Clinton’s recent comment in which she referred to 50 percent of Trump supporters as “Deplorables,” while being careful not to include the rest of her remark which stated they were: “Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobia.” Do you think it would matter whether the deplorables reporting included the other more descriptive and incendiary words? Because this information was available, in full, on social media , clearly, the Post and other news outlets couldn’t just ignore it so they had to report something. I refer to this type reporting as “limit the damage” reporting. Now, imagine, if you can, the editorial outrage that would’ve been expressed had Donald Trump uttered this same phrase. Do any of you recall seeing an editorial in the Salisbury Post or any other liberal news outlet decrying this statement?
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• Next, I would bring to your attention what I refer to as “change the subject reporting.” Never talk about the really important issues facing our country today. Today our country faces a soon to be $20 trillion deficit and growing. Does anybody really understand what that means? Have you seen or read anything in the mainstream media discussing the matter? My friend Ron Bowers gave what I believe is the best example of just how much 1 trillion is and I’d like to share it with you. It might help put things in perspective if you looked at it from the viewpoint of time. For instance a million seconds is 11 1/2 days. 1 billion seconds is 31.7 years. 1 trillion seconds is 32,000 years. Now, multiply that figure by 20. And yet, we’ve got politicians who want to pretend that a $20 trillion debt is nothing to worry about. And the mainstream media doesn’t want to talk about it because it doesn’t fit the liberal narrative. Unless we’re able to take corrective action to dramatically reduce our debt then time will show these people to be wrong. Is the United States too big to fail? Not by a long shot.

How about the issue of national security? Here’s an example of “just don’t report it”journalism. As Admiral Lyons so aptly put it: “Hillary couldn’t handle the security of a 13-acre compound in Benghazi and you want to turn over the security of our great nation to her. No Way.” I’ll bet you never read that quote in the Salisbury Post or Charlotte Observer or the New York Times. I wonder why?
I long for the days many, many years ago when journalism represented the finest and the best in this country and you could rely on their integrity to present the news in an honest and forthright way and allow the readers to reach their own conclusions. Alas, I’m afraid those days are gone forever and our country will be much the worse for it.

Jeffrey Ketner lives in Salisbury.