And that’s the way it is

For the past several years, there’s been a lot of talk about truth in the media. Some elected officials have taken to crying out “fake news” whenever someone points out something that they don’t agree with or that reflects negatively on them.

That attitude has even crept into common usage, sometimes in jest, but disturbingly, also in complete sincerity, uttered by people we would normally consider to be intelligent and well-reasoned.

Now, leaders from other countries — ones that we, as Americans, would have once described as oppressive or despotic — have taken up the phrase.

And don’t get me started on “alternative facts”.

How did this happen? It’s easy to point fingers. Everyone knows who started the trend. But the real reason this distrust has spread is that we let it happen.

For the past few years, one of the highlights of my day is when I get a chance to sit down and read Dan Rather’s insightful commentary pieces on national and international news.

After sharing one of Dan’s pieces on Facebook some time ago, I ended up in a conversation with a friend of mine from Australia.

“Dan wins the internet again,” he said. “He’s really good.”

That didn’t really catch me off guard. I’ve learned that no matter how far away Australia is in actual miles, it’s really not that far on the internet.

“He always has been,” I replied. “In my head, he and Walter Cronkite are what the truth sounds like.”

My friend hadn’t heard of Cronkite, but then, aside from being an Aussie, he’s also a bit younger than me. In addition, Cronkite retired in 1981, long before the days of social media.

For the first decade or so of my life, Cronkite’s rich baritone rumbled from my grandparents’ TV like the voice of God every night, delivering the news of the day with poise, confidence and the inferred assurance that knowledge was better than ignorance.

In Cronkite’s day, before television, reporters worked much the same as print journalists. After all, that’s how most of them got into the business. It was the same for Cronkite, who, after getting a series of newspaper jobs covering news and sports, made his first foray into broadcasting as a radio announcer for WKY in Oklahoma City.

His career spanned five decades, concluding with a 19-year stint as the anchorman for the CBS Evening News

from 1962 until his retirement in 1981. He was often cited as “the most trusted man in America.”

“In seeking truth, you have to get both sides of a story.”

Cronkite’s words cut to the heart of any real journalistic endeavor and provide an example I and countless others have tried to follow in our own careers.

To be called “fake” by someone just because they don’t like the facts we’ve presented is an insult, not just to the person or entity at which it is directed, but to the whole establishment.

The problem — again, of our own making — is that there has been a blurring of lines between what we call “objective journalism” and opinion, something Cronkite explained once in a way that makes perfect sense.

“Objective journalism and an opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine.”

Today, the difference between objective journalism and opinion is not as marked as it once was. I lay some of the blame for that at the feet of the plethora of 24-hour news channels that struggle to fill the time with varied programs, many of which boil down to a panel show led by hosts who present their own — or the network’s — viewpoints without making it perfectly clear that they are presenting opinions instead of news.

Cronkite’s plain speech lends perspective.

“We all have our likes and our dislikes,” he once said. “But ... when we’re doing news — when we’re doing the front-page news, not the back page, not the op-ed pages, but when we’re doing the daily news, covering politics — it is our duty to be sure that we do not permit our prejudices to show. That is simply basic journalism.”

Part of it is our own fault. We’ve been made lazy by social media, which does an excellent job of keeping us in touch with family, friends and funny cat videos, but a less spectacular job of keeping us informed.

Anyone — even a Russian propagandist — can post a meme, a link or a photo and say whatever they can think of, whether it be funny, hateful or racist, and pass it off as real information, and many of us don’t bother or know how to check it out.

This became especially apparent in the last presidential election. Again, Cronkite’s words prove insightful, especially when he dipped into commentary.

“We are not educated well enough to perform the necessary act of intelligently selecting our leaders.”

I’m afraid that’s still the case, at all levels of government.

Cronkite signed off each night with his own catchphrase, one that summed up all the work and dedication he and his crew put into the broadcast, including his final one.

“And that’s the way it is: Friday, March 6, 1981. I’ll be away on assignment, and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. Goodnight.”

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Robert Cox is associate editor for Carroll County Newspapers. His email address is RCox@cherryroad.com.