LETTER: Lines blurred between fact, opinion on O-R opinion page
The editors of the Observer-Reporter don’t get it. Your editorial “Real News” (Aug. 16) states that “opinions are NOT fake news. The editorials and op-eds we write and publish are just that – opinions.” Not so.
The distinction between opinion and fact on your opinion page has drastically faded in the last few years, as has the distinction between truth and falsity. They have become well and truly fused, as they have in the rest of the corporate media.
Instead of being served dispassionate, rational analysis of the facts, we now get shallow, hysterical rantings with little resemblance to the truth. In doing so, you become, as Paul Craig Roberts, former Wall Street Journal editor, says “a propaganda organ in behalf of vested interests … actively involved in protecting lies against truth.” This breeds ignorance and is deeply anti-democratic.
I could cite hundreds of examples where your opinion page has fused opinion-fact and truth-falsity. You publish letters and op-eds stating as fact that there was collusion between President Trump and Russia in the 2016 election. For example, a letter from Gary Ford (Aug. 12) states as fact, not opinion, “The president asked Russia to find the Clinton emails.” There’s no evidence whatsoever that this is a fact.
On the same day, you published an op-ed by Dave Ball who wrote as fact, not opinion, that the rising “Democratic socialist branch (of the Democratic party)” has a “Marxist ideology.” What nonsense! I’ve been a socialist for 55 years and studied Marxism as a university professor for 45 years. So-called Democratic socialists have as much in common with socialism and Marxism as does Dave Ball.
Your opinion page is replete with countless other examples of this fusion of opinion-fact and truth-falsity: e.g. Syrian rebels, North Korea denuclearization, Russian expansionism, the Chinese menace, Trump’s trade wars, the rosy state of our domestic economy and, my favorite, our commitment to spreading democracy peacefully throughout the world.
The Observer-Reporter and the corporate media are fast de-legitimizing themselves with this rubbish and unprofessional journalism. Go elsewhere for reasoned opinion and the truth.
Robert Hanham
Carmichaels