This cartoon is an apt representation

of media reports an event nowadays.

After the fall of Soviet Union, media was one of many things that observed a decline in quality of reporting. The most glaring example of media falling for official lies was the media coverage of Iraq War that the US initiated in 2003. Many critics accused US mainstream media channels of selling a pro-war narrative to the Americans during the invasion. Fox News became the number one rated channel that produced live coverage of the war and hailed the American army as a “hero”. These news channels filtered out any criticism or anti-war rhetoric.

A poll, conducted by FactCheck.org, after the US Presidential elections of 2008, showed that 48% of Americans still believed in Saddam Hussein’s involvement in the 9/11 attacks. Media has seen a steady but continuous shift form what it should present before the audience in an objective manner. Subjectivity is the norm nowadays. Why wonder over widespread circulation and propagation of fake news then. Without digging deeper into the facts, we often end up making wrong choices in every walk of life. The watchdog, i.e., media is now the leading source of confusion among and misleading the people who seek truth. It is sufficient to quote Syria as example of the confusion created by the media in people’s minds.

“There is a terrific disadvantage in not having the abrasive quality of the press applied to you daily. Even though we never like it, and even though we wish they didn’t write it, and even though we disapprove, there isn’t any doubt that we could not do the job at all in a free society without a very, very active press.”
–John F Kennedy – 1962