Fake News and Journalism — Letters that should have been in the new york times

12.27.19

To the editor:

It doesn't make sense to describe sociology rather than events as driving politics (Brooks, The Media Is Broken, 12.27.19). Are 'events' not sociological in the first place? We need to appreciate the 'lenses' through which we take in the news, [but] David Brooks overlooks how most Americans get their news in the first place; that is, the role of non-journalistic media as a primary source. Journalism is a noble profession and foundational for our democratic process. But journalism is constantly under attack. There are constant efforts, from within and outside our country, to manipulate the very content of the 'events' that are reported. The sociological, political result is that we are living in a polarized world of alternate realities where the very 'events' reported are in dispute.

Respectfully

Larry S Sandberg