Ellen Hume

If everyone is now a journalist, thanks to mobile media tools, how can consumers create a nutritious news diet for themselves? How can they sort out what reality is captured and what is constructed and therefore presumably less authentic?

OK, I understand how Hilary Rosen feels about women and work, and also why Ann Romney is stirring the sympathy vote: "Democrat Says Ann Romney “Has Never Worked A Day In Her Life” http://politi.co/HBPadI  If truth be told, I got into the same fix myself years ago, when I went back to my high school to give a talk, and said that I couldn't be "just a housewife, raising kids, baking cupcakes and tending my garden" when the world was in flames with the civil rights, anti-war and other movements. There was an audible gasp.

So how far should real journalists go in saying that someone is “misstating” the facts, i.e. lying? This was raised recently by the NYTimes ombudsman. http://t.co/rn2GLZrx ...Everyone came down on the poor fellow to say DUH, of course, that’s what real journalists are supposed to do!  But it’s not so simple. Most politics is entirely faith-based. Why else would someone listen to those blow-hards on radio and tv, who lie day after day to paint a scary world full of conspiracies?

The quote of the day comes from, of all people, a GOP President of long ago:  "Now it is true that I believe this country is following a dangerous trend when it permits too great a degree of centralization of governmental functions. I oppose this--in some instances the fight is a rather desperate one. But to attain any success it is quite clear that the Federal government cannot avoid or escape responsibilities which the mass of the people firmly believe should be undertaken by it.