News or Views?

 

News or views?

That is the question we face,

For once we get past the headlines...

Of the news, there’s just a trace.

We’ve become preoccupied

With views instead of news,

For more important than the news itself

Is the matter of people’s views.

 

It is not about what happened

But what one makes of it,

And if that one is important enough

That becomes our edict.

No misuse of the word edict

Since cases are fought in the news

And the sources cited therein

Could determine our own views.

The news used to be the facts

Trustworthiness was the goal,

But I am now beginning to believe

That even that we have sold.

 

Everything has its price

There is nothing that cannot be sold,

In the past we used to be subtle

Today, we’ve become very bold.

Con-artistry is the norm

It is the expected way of life,

The gains are financially satisfying

The collateral damage is strife.

The news is what it is

But the views are what stand out,

It is how we sensationalize it

That gives us reason to shout.

A defeat is also a win

Though not for the team that lost,

But in the case of warfare

To both it is a horrific lost.

Hence, the tampering with the news:

What do the pundits say?

State but little of the facts

And let the views hold sway.

“A child was killed to day

The teachers were on strike,

If the teachers were at their workplace

That child would be alive tonight.”

Two facts are stated here

In fact, these are two news items,

But notice how they are combined

And therein lies the problem.

The first is the lost of a life

The second is an industrial protest,

But the view as expressed in the news

Could lead to civil unrest. 

This view could eclipse the news

And cause tremendous fallout,

The cause of the child’s death were the teachers,

Of this there is now little doubt.

The children they are charged to protect

They have left without their supervision

And this deplorable neglect of duty

Has brought a nation’s derision.

Local, regional, and international

FOX News or CNN

It does not matter the news carrier

The views in the news is the problem.

Stewart Russell © November 2019