News media: More reliable than Trump's free-form facts

Re: “Don’t settle for ‘reliable’ news sources,” (TNT letter, 4/10).

The letter writer says: “Think for yourself. Check it out, investigate. Don’t just settle for your ‘reliable news sources.’” It’s telling, though, that she doesn’t say anything about how to do that.

If you really wanted to go beyond reliable sources, you could try going directly to professional journals and interviewing leaders of professional organizations, and try to interview government leaders and experts in their fields. Few people have the time, resources, access or will to do so.

So if they don’t refuse to use “reliable news sources,” what most people will do is fall back on sources that reinforce their own viewpoints – and probably don’t follow professional standards of journalism. Or even more likely, they will just let their values define their view of the facts.

President Donald Trump has defined himself as the ultimate representative of those whose definition of truth is whatever they want it to be. And that, I reckon, is the true attitude the author of the letter expressed by voting for Trump.

This story was originally published April 28, 2017 at 5:43 PM with the headline "News media: More reliable than Trump's free-form facts."