Sometimes in anger, fear, haste, or perhaps while intoxicated or consumed by infatuation, we speak, write, or communicate to others through body language a distorted version of what our true thoughts, opinions, or intentions are.

Distortion happens to all of us and we suffer, usually from shame, as a result. It is one of the many attributes that, for lack of a better label, makes us human. “I did not mean that”. “That’s not what I said.” “That’s not what I meant.” It’s almost a safe bet that you’ve uttered, firmly asserted, or perhaps shouted one of the aforementioned quotes. No matter.

Falling back when speaking never seems to be a mistake that is overcome with age, education or faith. Just past. I pose this question: What if your words or the words being said about you were misrepresented by an individual or entity (media) and the sole purpose of this misrepresentation was simply to add a little spice, awe, or head-shaking to it? what else would it be? To be boring?

Let me add this bit of information to give you a hint of where I’m going with all of this. I spent a block of my adult working life in the employ of a very large broadcast news organization. I was an on-air talent, as it’s called, and as a result, I gained a “certain perspective” on the media.

As a phrase, tag, or headline, Fake News has been around, in my opinion, since the day news began in the stone age. Come on, admit it: doesn’t everyone love a good story?

Getting the story is the hardest part of reporting the story. In college, in journalism class, they taught the mechanics of the interview, but not the reality. The reality is being under a time gun, a deadline, dealing with a producer or a news director. The clock is ticking and you have a story to get and you need it now! And it better be good, because recent college grads are lined up and ready to take their place all the time.

So let’s take our reporter, on any given day, with the task of getting the story on Mr. Jones.

Going back to the first day of journalism class: the teacher asks, “What is news?” And the shocking, head-kicking, almost comical response is; Whatever the reporter does. That’s a pretty powerful position, don’t you think?

Let’s go back to our stage. However, Mr. Jones cannot be located. The reporter turned around, hit the pavement and some doors and could not find Mr. Jones. There is still a deadline and all the rest of the pressure to produce a story. What should the reporter do?

Think fast. If you’re a reporter, you have no choice but to think fast. The answer to this conundrum is to interview someone who knows Mr. Jones, who could be an immediate family member, a neighbor, a co-worker, a former spouse, or how about that former employer. And the clock ticks, ticks, ticks.

The reporter locates Mr. Smith, a good friend of missing in action Mr. Jones. This puts Mr. Smith in what might be called an awkward position. Feeling trapped and uncomfortable, Mr. Smith realizes he had better do his best not to embarrass himself or his good friend, Mr. Jones. After all, once cornered for the interview, if Mr. Smith told the reporter that he had nothing to say about Mr. Jones, there might be a problem.

The reporter, tick, tick, tick, might as well report that he asked Mr. Smith, a good friend of Mr. Jones, but Mr. Smith refused to answer any of a dozen questions and the reporter would take that nothing and would intrigue his listeners, viewers, or readers with speculation as to why Mr. Smith kept quiet about Mr. Jones. Remember, whatever the reporter does is news.

Surprisingly, no story ever becomes a great story based on the fact that there is no story to tell, but once a reporter knows that Mr. Smith doesn’t offer voluntary answers, it opens the floodgates for the listener, the viewer. or the reader draw their own conclusions. This type of thinking can be applied even if the reporter is asking the most absurd questions on a deadline, for example, Does Mr. Jones talk to aliens? When was the last time he saw Mr. Jones lose his temper? Is he rude to less fortunate people? Does he act differently during the Christmas season? You get the picture. Not talking can be worse than saying something.

This same thought crosses Mr. Smith’s mind, so he reluctantly and nervously agrees to an interview with the reporter who has been harassing him all day.

Face to face with the reporter, Mr. Smith does his best to put on a smile as he tells the reporter that Mr. Jones is always in a good mood and loved by friends and neighbors and impresses everyone he meets, because He has such a positive attitude. attitude. There are no clouds in the life of Mr. Jones, only sun all day. He gives one hundred and ten percent of his energy to his industry and takes pride in his work. Devotion to family is a testament to his character and whatever he harvests he gives to his wife.

Mr. Jones sounds like Man of the Year to the reporter, but the reporter has to appeal to the listener, the viewer, or the reader, so he has to have some trouble and some good old-fashioned gossip. , because without it, listeners, viewers, or readers will be looking for greener (dirtier) pastures to graze on.

Remember, whatever the reporter does. It’s time for the Fake News apparatus to be applied to this story. Get out the seasonings and let’s spice this baby up. The spin party begins! And so the interview is archived by the reporter.

Mr. Jones is not the serious type and has a salesmanlike manner that tells him what buttons to push to make people like him. He devotes so much time to his work that Mr. Jones could be labeled a slave to labor in his industry and finds no time for devotion to anything that does not benefit him personally. A habit that he repeats at every turn is spoiling her wife, perhaps for fear of losing her to a more complete man.

Just think of the frustration Mr. Jones will have when he finds out about the interview Mr. Smith gave him. Mr. Smith has nowhere to hide and I suspect that Mr. Jones will transform into a clone of himself out of place when he confronts Mr. Smith.

The reporter makes it sound credible by citing a source, or in what has become increasingly common, an anonymous source, or a close source, or the Russians!

Now that you’ve read this article, you may remember that news is whatever the reporter does, and commotion value is on the rise.