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Murphy Martin Commentary
May 3, 2007
"Fact or Fiction"
We wrote a book entitled Front Row Seat that was published in
late 2003. One of the things we mentioned in the book was our belief
that Television was the most powerful social instrument yet devised!
In its early days, it
even acted as a unifying force in American society. With only three
major networks , Americans were unified by the shows they watched;
after all, there were three options on any given night. With the
advent of more local stations, cable network, the booming Internet,
movies, it's no longer the unifying force it once was.
Today, television is still as prominent, if not preeminent source
for information, including news.
However, the Internet is changing much of the communications scene
in America and around the world.
We hear a lot of talk about "trust" in media these days. That should
not be too surprising with another Presidential Election looming in
November 2008. The party in power chastises the party wanting to
replace them. Liberals level accusations at Conservatives and
vice-versa. And it has become a way of life for News Anchors to add
their own personal spin on one or more stories in their newscasts.
Much of that became more open and more often used following 9/11.
Radio and Television talk-show hosts also have no way of knowing if
information their callers offer is accurate information.
All the accusations about trust and bias and spin and outright lies
leads to the begging question How many of us who exchange emails by
the dozens every day blindly accept what we receive as FACT and pass
it own giving it a spiraling out-of-control life that reaches
endless numbers before someone might say, wait a minute, let us
check with Snopes and see what they say about this.
We look forward to emails and most are from longtime friends . Many
senders mention things like: "have not been able to verify this info
yet" or use some qualifier to get us to do some checking ourselves.
But, we see many emails that people can't wait to get your reaction:
Things like Robin Williams wrote this, or George Carlin wrote this
or some other well-known person supposedly wrote this as if that
makes it automatically true. Our conservative friends often seem
giddy at something negative they received about Senator Clinton or
that Sen. Obama had a father who was Muslim (who divorced his mother
when he was four). Or, our Liberal friends spinning another
anti-President Bush story or claiming Iraq is his fault alone and
saying things like Sen. John McCain is too old for
the Presidency. Or, Hillary has a "lock" on the Democratic
nomination and the Presidency in 2008.
Bottom line: as in talk radio or television where the host has no
way of knowing if a caller's remarks are Fact or Fiction, to an even
larger degree, what spins off the Internet by the millions each day,
there is absolutely no way to know if they are Fact or Fiction.
Oliver Stone used one or two FACTS and a ton of FICTION in the movie
JFK, a film that disgraced
America's history because there are generations that accepted ALL
they saw in that movie JFK and believed it to be all FACT and no
FICTION.
Also, where are all the prizes and good things that supposedly will
happen to you if you forward 68-copies of this email within the next
ten-minutes.
Email is wonderful! My day would be incomplete if I did not hear
from my email friends. But remember, we can be victims if we believe
everything we receive is FACT and no part of it is FICTION. We have
retracted more than a few claims received in days gone by and we
probably will have to do some more of that in the future, but if
each of us becomes a bit more questioning about "spin" statements
made in our incoming emails and do a bit more checking on the
contents validity we would have fewer questions whether it was FACT
or FICTION!
That's our time and we do thank you for yours!
Murphy Martin
Your thoughts and comments forwarded to my website will be
appreciated.
e-mail
murphy@murphymartin.com
Previous commentaries:
"Legends Live"
"Massacre in
Blacksburg"
"Post-Easter
Parade"
"Gone But Not
Forgotten"
"Early
Predictions"
"2008 Could Be
Different"
"The Bug and
Nostalgia"
"A Night to
Remember"
"President's
Week"
"Two Different
Wars"
"Dungy Leaves
Indelible Mark"
"All Kinds of
Smiles!"
"Humbled, Not
Bowed!"
"Free at Last!"
"Three Vastly
Different Lives"
"America at Her
Best"
"Holiday
Surprises"
"Christmas 2006"
"Is the Fat Lady
Singing?"
"Sixty Five
Years Later"
"Make It Merry
Christmas"
"Voices from
History"
"Dreams -
Reality?"
"Democrats
Dominate"
"Honored and
Humbled"
"Last Minute
Sparring"
"Cheyenne
Memories"
"How Much Will
It Hold?"
"FOX Controls on
Tenth Birthday"
"Clinton Points
Finger Again"
"U.N. Nuclear
Sparring"
"SRO for Latest
Hall of Famer"
"Katie's Back,
Legs and All!"
"Will T.O. Ride
Bicycle Or Tricycle?"
"Couric News
Carousel Approaching"
"George Was Not
First"
"Cowboy's
Control Canton"
"Despite
Unfinished Business, Congress Takes a Vacation"
"Reality Television Rolls on Sunday"
"The President Speaks His Mind"
"The World Around Us"
"Birthday Time Again"
"Presidents -- Past and Present"
"Expensive Babies"
"Change of Pace"
"Yesterday Katie Said Goodbye to Today"
"Musical Chairs Continue at ABC-TV"
"No Quick
Support for Bush Plan"
"Moussaoui
Meeting with Virgins Delayed"
"What the Hell Happened?"
"His Name is Still Magic"
"The Tallest Pine is Gone"
"Keeping America Free"
"Remembering"
"Christians vs Muslims"
"Bush Bucks Bashing"
"Early Look at 2008"
"Contrasting Memories"
"Reporter's Rough Roads"
"Another Cowboys Loss"
"People, Places and Things"
"Super Bowl Wasn't So Super"
"State of the Union"
"Is God Dead in Europe?"
"Remembering Dr. King"
"This Week in Review"
"New Year, New Challenges"
"The Party's Over"
"Democracy in the Middle East"
"Unfinished Business"
"Merry
Christmas Rules"
"Bush
Unveils Plans"
"Today is Special"
"Border
Security Now!!!"
"Stupidity Loses Financing"
"Crisis Christians"
"They
Led the Way"
"Sadistic Saddam Hussein"
"Bourbon Street Bashing"
"Hurricane Aftermath"
"Standing Tall"
"Never a Dull Moment"
"Another Hero Laid to Rest"
"Blame Game"
"Senior Thoughts For the Young"
"Role Model Challenge"
August 18 - "Network News Anchors"
August 11 - "Now All Three Are Gone"
August 4 - "Trust in the Media"
July 28 - "Television Then and Now"
July 21 - "The Mick"
July 14 - "Forty Years and Counting"
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