Media approval ratings are at an all time low and the public is routinely confronted by what ultimately turns out to be ‘faux’ news. But this is not a surprise because we have been aware of this for some time. In fact, it all started with Watergate.  Although I was in London in 1972 and never had a chance to vote against Richard Nixon, the Watergate scandal was all over the press in Europe so I didn’t miss a bit of the sordid details. For the first time ever, however, a major news story made a big deal of the reporters behind it. The media became the star and even had a major film applauding their work sinking Nixon. All the President’s Men was a film celebrating the two Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who then became millionaire authors.

What worried me then about Watergate was the fact that the new powerful media was demanding that all government secrets should be revealed to the public. I felt this was unwise, and I still do.  Since we were still in the middle of the war in Vietnam, such disclosures would be available to our enemy.  We, the people, do not really want to know everything about the government as long as they are looking out for our security.

As far back as 2003, I was warning journalists that they had to get their integrity back or the Fourth Estate was in big trouble. I wrote:

"’At Syms, an educated consumer is our best customer.’ That's the slogan of the Manhattan clothier but followers of current national events should not have to rely on their own efforts to get at the truth. That is supposed to be the duty of journalists but sadly, that is no longer the case. To accurately decipher current events and their importance, readers have to educate themselves rather than rely on certain news sources. Opinions that used to be restricted to the editorial pages now cloud news articles and not only are readers recognizing that fact, they are starting to rebel.”

Back then, BDS, or Bush derangement syndrome was in full bloom and now TDS or Trump derangement syndrome is fully behind the ‘fake news’ engulfing the mainstream media sources.  If individuals only get their news from the mainstream media, they assume that the Trump administration is in disarray and chaotic. Trump supporters know that this focus on the negative is emanating from faux news reports. Recently, an article by John Nolte in the Daily Wire, listed how the MSM was caught telling 40 lies. How is the average American supposed to weed out the truth?  Unless one has access to the Internet and certain new cable television stations one will be inundated with misinformation.

I routinely search sites like lucianne.com and the Drudge report to read the articles posted from all sources. Invariably, news reported by The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC,  USA Today, Reuters, Associated Press, AOL, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair,  Politico and the Daily Beast will be negative and spin events to a particular narrative rather than the truth. Even William Buckley’s revered National Review became a #NeverTrump conclave during the 2016 campaign and still has not had its conservative reputation completely restored.

There are very few print newspapers left in the New York and California areas that are considered conservative or at least impartial. The New York Post was one of only a few that endorsed Donald Trump for president. The New York Sun, where I was once a columnist, was a beacon that tried to thwart the NYT left wing agenda, but shut down its print version in 2008. It is still available online and continues its ethical journalism and is worth a look-see. The Wall Street Journal is a mishmash of reporting ranging from impartial to biased depending on the writer.

As for television, I treat all the news from the alphabet networks as suspect. While I do at times watch Fox News, not all of it is fair and balanced, especially during Sheppard Smith and Chris Wallace’s airtime. Bill O’Reilly is as narcissistic as Obama is since every story ends up being about Bill. I once appeared on Fox and Friends and was treated much more fairly by Steve Doocy than I was on ABC’s Good Morning America by a female anchor whose name escapes me. Neal Cavuto, Tucker Carlson, Stuart Varney are watchable and fair. CNN, MSNBC are not. For most covered public events, one can’t beat C-Span because there are no anchors to spin what you’re watching.

There are also two new networks presenting a more conservative viewpoint. One America News (OAN) is mostly straight news reports from around the world supported by videos. Newsmax is another generally conservative site with at least three call-in shows hosted by Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr, Joe, ‘Pags’ Pagliarulo and Steve Malzberg. Former Rep. J.D. Haworth also hosts the network’s “America Forum” segment.

 Where, oh where to learn the truth about current events and politics? It’s not easy especially if one is not computer literate enough to surf the Net. The good news is that children are probably more savvy than adults so grab a kid and ask for help.

During the past few years, I’ve found that the fake news and lies told by the mainstream media were debunked by the website conservativetreehouse.com and its intrepid editor Sundance. When all those alleged police shootings of unarmed black men were being hyped by the MSM, this site dug deeper and provided links and videos that proved that in most cases the shootings were justified and the ‘victims’ were not always innocent.

Despite heavy criticism, Andrew Breitbart’s brainchild Breitbart.com is a good, reliable source for the truth. I ought to know since I was on board at its inception and news gathering was strictly monitored for veracity. I had to provide documentation for all my columns in the form of videos or previously published data.

PJMedia.com has great columnists and is also quite picky about proving content. My former editor at the NY Sun, Michael Walsh, is a kind but stern master overseeing the content.

Several of the following sites have proven to be unbiased and factual and a worth a look-see.:

DailyCaller.com; AmericanThinker.com; theFederalist.com; DailySignal.com; CanadaFreePress.com; Newsbusters.com.

There may be more I might have neglected to list and I apologize but these are the ones I use most frequently to get the real story. It is a sad fact that the foreign press is more apt to report facts than our own media. Consider the Sweden brouhaha that resulted when the MSM accused Trump of overblowing the crime taking over that country. CNN and other fake, fake news shows had their guests mocking the president. Meanwhile RT, the Russian news agency shows dramatic videos of the Swedish riots, putting the MSM to shame. RT and other overseas news sources, e.g., Daily Mail (UK), are available to view on Lucianne.com.

Wake up, America! You’re being had. Start asking the right questions. How did the Democrats come up with that 40,000,000 uninsured Americans to pass Obamacare?  When CNN’s Don Lemon asks his panel about how much the Trump family’s secret service is costing taxpayers, ask him where’s his research and why didn’t he question that about Michele Obama’s huge entourage when she traveled? We need to hold these sycophants masquerading as journalists’ feet to the fire.

We’re mad as hell and that’s why we voted for Trump.