Something happened in my house this week that those who know me will find unbelievable: I cut the remaining cord to cable news.  Fox News, the only remaining cable news source I considered somewhat trustworthy, found itself banned from my home with all other cable news.

The app has been deleted, along with all news apps associated with Fox News. An overwhelming peace came in doing so, not unlike the peace that came from deleting my Twitter account in July.  The Twitter cesspool is not worth swimming in. Parler is now my go-to social media app, while independent news sources with journalistic integrity are now my go-to for news.

Having worked a significant portion of my life as a news reporter and editor, journalism will always be in my blood.  I crave news and information like some crave chocolate. That will likely never change. What will change is where I get that news and information.

While there are many reasons which factored into my decision, the final proverbial straw came when Fox News continued to deny any “credible evidence” of election/voter fraud.  Such declarations were often delivered by anchors with a sneer and a smirk.  With social media and big tech-monopolies banning and censoring evidence of verifiable election fraud, even Fox News likely feels safe in perpetuating the “nothing to see here” lie.  The problem for these censoring overlords and truth-deniers is that election fraud is, in fact, taking place.  When dead people somehow rise from the grave to vote, that is election fraud.  When people who are not legally permitted by law to vote somehow manage to do so, there is election fraud.  When states defy court orders and violate the law by refusing to allow one party access to vote counting, that is election fraud.  When statistically impossible ballot percentages magically appear in the dead of night, election fraud is likely the cause.  When thumb-drives miraculously appear from thin air, election fraud possibilities should, at the very least, be investigated.  One need not be a legal scholar to comprehend what election/voter fraud is.  Whether isolated incidents or massive, coordinated fraud, every illegal ballot is a threat to our country.  Those who fail to investigate or acknowledge such fraud are liars, at best, and criminally culpable, at worst.

Turning my back on cable news was not easy.  Some of my best memories of childhood center on the times my father made us watch the evening news as a family.  When the tradition began, I remember dragging my feet into the living room, dreading the next 30 minutes of monotone news being regurgitated.  When I asked my dad, “Why do we have to watch this every single night?” he would patiently explain how important it was to have knowledge of what was happening in the world and how it affects our lives, even if we don’t initially perceive it.  He was correct. News -- unbiased, fairly reported, uncensored -- is vitally important, but accepting manipulated, dishonest content from mainstream media outlets cannot be tolerated. Independent sources of news exist that excel at reporting while maintaining journalistic integrity and standards.  It is the content on those sites I will rely on and support.

Sadly, modern-day major news broadcasts cannot be trusted to deliver news, much less serve as watchdogs.  Once protectors of the people and constitutional freedoms, they have become manipulators of the people.  Most anchors deliver news that has been stripped of content to push an agenda, most often dictated by a political party or the anchor’s personal bias.  Such coverage is not news, it is manipulation and deceit.  While I am powerless to instill integrity back into “journalists,” I do have the power to turn the television off and refuse to allow them to profit in any way from my viewership.  Most personally gratifying, I possess the power to strip them of their narcissist craving for an audience, at least in my home.

The left, whether in news media or other elitist niches, has devoted years to ignoring, demonizing, and silencing opposing views, not to mention vast segments of the American population.  By turning off news coverage that denies the existence of opposing thought, I am refusing to participate in the machinations of groupthink pushed for nefarious purposes.  The money saved from a cable television subscription will now be contributed to trusted and independent news sites.  I encourage others to do the same.  With any luck, perhaps such sites will one day be the force which returns honesty and integrity back into mainstream journalism. If it does not, those sites will replace mainstream journalism permanently.  Either way, it will be a win for America.

Image: Fox News