When I was attending Penn State in the 1960s, we were taught to keep our own point of view out of the news and to tell both sides of the story. As I sat at my laptop recently reading the Rasmussen poll about how President Barack Obama’s convention bump had faded in just three days and that Mitt Romney had retaken a two-point lead, the broadcast network evening news was on TV telling America that Mitt Romney had “tanked” in the polls. They similarly distort the news every day. A democracy depends on a truthfully informed electorate. But unless people watch Fox News or BBC, they are getting the equivalent of vicious propaganda disseminated by a press serving as a White House public relations agency. I think anyone who watches Fox and then a broadcast network will be surprised.
William Beerman
Class of 1970
