How Fake News Began and the Fourth Estate Surrendered to Big Money

A free press is protected by the First Amendment. Now that the mainstream media is controlled by some of America’s wealthiest men and women, there is no longer a ‘free press,’ formerly known as the ‘Fourth Estate.’

What your read or see on television is closely censored by the men and women who own our nation’s largest newspapers and broadcast television networks.

Donald Trump uses the term ‘fake news’ incessantly. He is referring to the only national news services who were not afraid to ask the tough questions, questions Trump and his cronies refuse to answer. He was not including the original fake news, Fox News, or the newest right-wing propaganda machines including Newsmax, The Old-Time Gospel Hour , One America News Network, Real America's Voice, and others which seem to appear from nowhere every week. Our billionaires/oligarchs are busy spending their money on misinformation.

I know what you are thinking: “if what I am saying is the truth, where can I find ‘real news,’ stories composed of facts, rejecting lies, half-truths, and conspiracy theories?”

That’s not easy to answer. I can tell you that on November 9, 2016, I swore that I would never watch the morning or evening news broadcasts on television again. I have kept that promise. I simply refused to accept lies and half-truths from overpaid television personalities. During the 2016 campaign it became an undeniable fact that all television “news broadcasts” adopted Fox’ basic premise instead of hard, cold facts: “The truth is not important. Sensationalism increases viewership, and increased viewership leads to increased advertising which produces massive increases in revenue.

In the 1950’s and early 1960’s broadcast news lost money for television executives. Today, news is the most profitable segment of a television news day. The truth is, when 24 hour ‘news’ began with CNN in 1980, real news began to disappear. Instead of offering facts without adding personal or network opinions, these ‘shows’ became ‘entertainment.’ And they are not that entertaining. They tried to use anything and everything to fill the open spaces in every hour. This is what we have today: hours wasted watching anything but the news.

Your illegitimate president, Donald Trump, is attempting to eliminate any news network or newspaper which refuses to support his fascist agenda. He has read Hitler’s playbook multiple times and knows that if he is to be America’s Fuhrer, all “news” must come from him and his “people.” One by one, Trump is removing legitimate news agencies from the White House press room.

The once respected ‘Fourth Estate’ is nothing more than a memory in the 21^st century. After broadcast television became widely available in the 1950’s, critics claimed that television would become a disaster, an instrument reducing intelligent thought, and a major source of misinformation. Sadly, they were right.

It is a fact that most voters cast their ballots based on what they see on television. Few take the time necessary to research the validity of what they see and hear on what has become known as “the boob tube.” With the addition of an even worse ‘toy,’ social media, the American people have become the least informed citizens in the world.

Those who waste their time watching Fox News and the other right-wing extremist networks, choose to accept lies and half-truths while the truth remains hidden, but very real. They are willing victims of brainwashing.

I spend hours every day searching for the truth and then verifying what I read. I don’t expect anyone else to spend most of their awake time looking for facts, not fiction. However, I wish every American who cares about the future of their country and those they love would abandon social media, and boycott “television news.” The latter are major reasons why our nation is being destroyed by an illegitimate president who is only interested in personal pleasure, wealth, and power.

Op-ed by James Turnage

If you follow my blog, you will be an informed citizen