A friend and I had a bit of a debate this week. She had her view on a certain issue and I had mine. To support my view, I emailed her a news article I had found. She did the same. We had two different viewpoints on the same issue, but each was apparently supported by two different news articles.  The websites where we each found the articles were very reputable websites.  

I read the news online every day.  There have been days where I feel the need to “fact check” the website where I get my news. I generally do this by checking a different website. I remember checking back and forth between websites often during the disputed 2020 election. 

I have always been a “news junkie.” As a teenager and young adult, I  remember watching Walter Cronkite religiously every night with my Dad. We both also read The New York Times every day. We never ever questioned anything that Walter Cronkite said during a news broadcast. Nor did we question what we had read in The New York Times. We would discuss the news and  articles we had read at length but neither me nor my dad would ever, back then, question the validity of  what was being reported.

When and why did that change? When did we become distrustful of the news and the people delivering it to us?