(February 9, 2021 / JNS) Welcome to a world where you cant trust a single thing you hear. The news is dismissed as fake, and the information we receive comes with alternating prefixesmis or dis.

Is anything were told ever true?

Former President Donald Trump introduced a new genre of truth-telling known as fake news. It started on day one, immediately after his inauguration, when truth went into eclipse. The inaugural was sparsely attended by historical comparisons. No shame in that. But Trump, always the showman and annoyed by a simultaneous Womens March inspired by his infamous Access Hollywood segment, decided that the media had severely undercounted the crowd. A record number of well-wishers had actually attended the kickoff to his presidency.

And with that, all unflattering news about the Trump administration was forevermore deemed as fake by the administration. The media, for its part, didnt help matters by reporting only negative news about the presidentno quarter for any of his achievements, never given the benefit of the doubt. The battle lines were clearly delineated. Trump referred to the press as the enemy. The media didnt exactly rise above the skirmish. (The ratings were too good. Besides, they built him with all the free coverage he received during the 2016 campaign.)

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And so, fake news entered the public consciousness. Journalists and broadcasters might have their own agendas, and it had nothing to do with truth-telling. They didnt so much as report the news as implant a story they wanted the American public to believegiving it a decidedly Blue State bias. They werent journalists but evangelists, deliberately leaving out facts, slanting content, editorializing rather than objectively reporting.

Trump had a new twist on Marshall McLuhans seminal work, The Medium Is the Message. The media wasnt going to let facts get in the way of directing its readers or audience what to think. Trump was a news junkies godsend. With himthe ultimate bad guy, so easy to root againsteven bad news would be welcome. News was suddenly tailored for a particular audience. The central message would remain unchanged, no matter what events actually transpired. Confirmation biases were reassuringly spoon fed and lapped up.

Tune in and join the revelry of the like-minded: Donald Trump was evil, and anyone who supported him or even had conflicted feelings about him was no better than the man himself.

Ever since the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol, however, the Biden administration has already adopted its own strategy for shaping the news. Whatever the public was hearing that wasnt consistent with the aims of the new administration was casually dismissed as untrue, concocted by those who only wish to deceive.

Of course, its easier to control the message when both mass media, which commodifies the news, and social media, which accelerates its delivery, are on your side. Bidens cushy treatment by the media so far suggests that it might surpass the eight years of kid-gloving the Obama White House. The Fourth Estate might be in line for a Cabinet seat.

Americans are now being repeatedly warned to stay on constant alert for misinformation or, even worse, disinformation. The government and the mainstream press are jointly informing the public that if news is reported outside of official channels, then it should be dismissed as incorrect.

And what kinds of falsehoods are slyly being peddled as truth? Anything that cast doubt on the recent presidential election or Hunter Bidens business dealings in China. Anything that suggests that America is not a racist nation with half its population as white supremacists. Favorable stories about the oil and coal industries. Any mention that transgender women should not be able to participate in womens collegiate sports. Anyone who disapproves of open borders or complains about rising crime rates and releasing offenders without bail. And the most dreaded disinformation of all: that the police arent actually targeting African-American males.

Surrounded as we are by either news that is fake or information that is plainly false, where only one point of view can be tolerated and no differences of opinion are allowed, no wonder that far too many Americans are walking around with clenched teeth, their heads filled with multiple conspiracy theories.

It wasnt always this way.

Remember Walter Cronkite, anchorman for the CBS Evening News for nearly 20 years, with his avuncular voice keeping the nation informed about the Cuban missile crisis, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam war, the Apollo moon landing and Watergate? He wasnt Hollywood handsome or controversial or particularly entertaining, and yet 29 million Americans (nowadays, the major networks manage only 5 million viewers) religiously watched his broadcast every night.

All that time, we never knew whether he was a Democrat or Republican, a liberal or conservative; whether he was against the war in Vietnam; whether he believed the counterculture needed a haircut and that Woodstock spelled the end of the world. Knowing those things about him was none of our business. He was a newsman; his subjective feelings didnt interfere with his job.

Opinion polls routinely and overwhelmingly reflected the national sentiment that he was the most trusted man in America.

Who would occupy that lofty post of national faithfulness today? Would any of the network or cable news anchors rank ahead of Kim Kardashian?

Earning the trust of the people is the only way that institutionswhether they be governmental, corporate or communicationshave any legitimacy. The character of a nation depends on a social contract that is drafted without signatures. Its all sealed with a handshake.

Today, we are surrounded by mistrust and skepticism everywhere. Promises arent just broken; they were never believed at the outset. Truth is elusive and consensus is nonexistent. Shaking hands is impossible when people wont meet one another halfway.

The absence of mutual respect numbered the days of polite society. Just look at the rage thats exhibited online. Snark has replaced smarts. Artificial intelligence cant arrive soon enough. Placing our trust in machines has better prospects.

We might be able to reverse course. But for now, as Cronkite signed-off nightly, And thats the way it is.

Thane Rosenbaumis a novelist, essayist, law professor and Distinguished University Professor at Touro College, where he directs theForum on Life, Culture & Society. He is the legal analyst forCBS News Radio.His most recent book is titled Saving Free Speech From Itself.

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The dog days of fake news and misinformation - JNS.org