Opinion: Democracies need honest, fact-based debate

[Klaralven]

After nearly four years of Donald Trump, there is little room left for objective reporting and political discourse backed by facts. If nothing changes, the US risks breaking apart, says Ines Pohl.

The United States has always been a country of contrasts, a polarized nation. There are only two parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, that play a real role in politics. Governments don't need compromises to form a governing coalition — either they win a majority, or they've lost the election.

This partisan politics has been reflected in the media for centuries. Even the first regularly published US newspapers in the 18th century took a clear position on the important political decisions of the day. Today, broadcasters, newspapers and other publications — like in many other countries — tend to follow a specific political line, and people typically choose to get their news from the source they feel most closely matches their political views.

Media no longer seen as credible

After nearly four years of a Donald Trump presidency, two things are now fundamentally different:
- American media organizations have given up the quest for objective political reporting, and have now transformed into political players.
- Trump's constant accusations that the media is made up of nothing but "lies" and "fake news" have had an effect.

Never before has the credibility of the journalism profession been so low. Both points are certainly related, with social media acting as an amplifier. There are few places left in the US for discussion of contentious political concepts and possible solutions. And this election campaign has shown us the result of that, with more and more people only trusting their own little social media bubbles to provide them with information. This has had disastrous consequences, leaving the door wide open for conspiracy theorists and enemies of democracy.

https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-democracies-need-honest-fact-based-debate/a-55468225

[Hoyt]

1. The problem today is that any media outlet that is truly honest would be

attacked by both sides.

I prefer CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, NYT, DU, and occasionally some other independent on-line sources and bloggers because they are on average significantly closer to what I believe. But there are plenty of times they aren’t really presenting the whole truth.

I think today, we have to search for the truth from multiple sources and spend a lot of time fact checking before believing anything that is someone else’s unvented opinion.

[Klaralven]

3. Foreign media can also be a more objective source - so long as it is neither friend nor foe

UK, Israel, Russia and China are probably the least trustworthy.

[Hoyt]

4. Good point. I like Guardian, Economist, BBC, etc. Probably ought

to look more into that. Certainly believe we’d be better off adopting European ideals, except for the resurgent right wing crud.

[Klaralven]

5. Irresistible headlines like "Trump-Anhanger rammen Bidens Wahlkampffahrzeug - FBI ermittelt"

[uponit7771]

2. We have the technology to have a real time fact check consortium fact check the debates