Admittedly, I’ve been a “news junkie” my whole life.
It started in the summer when I was nine years old. For some reason, as a youth, I found the run-up to the 1960 presidential election between Nixon and Kennedy to be fascinating.
I watched the reporting from both the Republican and Democratic conventions. I read about the candidates. I listened intently as the grown-ups discussed and argued politics.
Recently, it has become harder and harder to listen to the news, watch the news on television or even to discuss the news with friends – especially political news.
Not surprisingly, people seem to stress over the news more than I can remember. There is even stress over what is news; what isn’t news; what is real news; and what is fake news.
There was a time (long before the internet, 24-hour cable news, Twitter and all the social media news feeds) when reporters always had to have at least three confirmed sources before they reported on an issue.
Newscasters could be trusted. Walter Cronkite, longtime anchorman for the CBS Evening News, was once recognized as the most trusted man in America. I just cannot imagine any news reporter, news anchor or news analyst receiving that kind of recognition today.
This past week, after watching several hours of the James Comey testimony to congress, I started flipping around the various 24-hour news channels to see what the expert news analysts had to say.
I was scrolling through the channels, looking for just one news outlet that could tell me something I hadn’t already heard, when I saw that one of the cable stations was running an “Andy Griffith” marathon.
Whew… relief.
From what I could tell, Sheriff Andy Taylor had never heard of James Comey. Andy knew about the FBI, but had never consulted with them.
The recent Mayberry city elections had gone off without a hitch. Mayor Pike had been re-elected without the slightest hint of Russian interference. Howard Sprague, the county clerk, won his re-election without worrying about the popular vote versus the electoral college vote.
In the episode I watched, political life in Mayberry appeared to revolve around Andy’s office and Floyd’s barbershop. Law enforcement and civil unrest were only challenged by Old Man Crowley’s concerns about Barney Fife’s fitness as a deputy, Otis and his standing reservation in cell #2, the Darling family’s insistence that they all share one small hotel room and, of course, Ernest T. Bass and his desire to break every window in Mayberry.
Life was easier. Truth was easier to find 50 years ago in Mayberry.
Regardless of how upset Barney became, regardless of how upset Clara Edwards became with Aunt Bee over the pickle competition, regardless of whether Opie and Miss Crump were upset over homework assignments … in the end, they could trust each other. The citizens of Mayberry trusted Andy to administer the law in Mayberry and Andy trusted the citizens.
Wow… Trust. Where did it go?
Now, we have trouble telling real news from fake news. The former FBI director is calling the current president a liar. The current president is tweeting at all hours of the day and night. Many of his tweets and other communications seem to be, well… bizarre. It didn’t take long for his response to James Comey. You guessed it — Comey is also a liar.
Will we ever get back to a time in America when we can trust the network news anchors? Will we ever again be able to trust our politicians?
OK, that was a trick question. Certainly, there are some trustworthy politicians in Washington, but every poll taken lists politicians at the bottom of the trustworthy-list-of-professions, but wouldn’t it be nice if there was a renewed level of trust between the American people and those who represent us?
We need to insist on honesty from the national media and our national political leaders. Together, we need to search for truth and answers. Don’t buy into the nonsense that is being shoveled around the 24-hour news programs just to fill another hour of on-air-time.
God willing, someday, the most trusted person in America may again be a news anchor. Until then, I’ll remain a news junkie — but I’ll also rely on common sense, skepticism, Andy Griffith and the fine folks from Mayberry to help keep me grounded in the truth and to know who and what I can trust.
Unfortunately, the times have changed, but we can still remember Walter Cronkite’s traditional closing line:
“And that’s the way it is. June 13th, 2017.”
Randy Riley is President of Council of Wilmington.
