too far from then

October 22, 1962 Walter Cronkite sat behind his desk at the CBS studio, glasses at the tip of his nose reading aloud the current situation of a nation at the ready to either stop the ignition of World War Three, or to light the match enabling the annihilation of not only democracy but the entire globe. Finishing reading the factual text of current events, Mr Cronkite removed his glasses looked straight into the camera as if peering directly into the eyes of those watching him and added these are the facts as we know it.

January 10, 2015 a heinous, horrific, cowardly but purposely planned attack at the offices of Charlie Hebdo followed by the insane, inane and evil murders at a Kosher Market took place in Paris. Immediately the American population became aware of one more terrorist plot to uneven the playing field and to smack at the hearts and souls of those who still believed that good existed. And just as the planners of mayhem and murder wished the responses of the people of the world and the United States was quick, full of shock, anguish and anger. And then not missing a beat the three major Cable Networks of the US decided to stop using facts to relate this incident, preferring to spice up the truth with truth of their own.

MSNBC provided its viewers with soft spoken, yet precisely worded anchors to try and tell us the story of why this happened. The cadre of MSNBC celebrities brought their somber faces to the screen, and decided that the back stories held as much priority as did the present moments of violence. America had to realize why this unbelievable occurrence was hatched and Americans should not be fooled into believing it was just happenstance. The truth was that innocents died, but MSNBC story focused on the how come, and why did we not realize it aspect.

CNN had no patience to wait for the facts, no, instead they became seers and decided to predict the future. Always concerned about being the first to tell the story, often times one they made up as they went along, CNN looked beyond the here and now and provided their viewers with insight concocted by a many D list talking head who were seen salivating as they threw in their own bias. CNN, always believing that the story needs to be told differently was at the top of their game with random and at times some ridiculous  reasons and rational.

FOX News, not one to miss petty propaganda in any world wide event, went immediately on the attack to identify the bad guys. Their almost whites only need to work here entertainers, were able to establish who was bad, who we, white Christian America needed to fear the most, and how President Obama was some way or other responsible for this terrorist action. As at least a dozen innocents lay dead in Paris, the fools at FOX were able to mention the IRS, Benghazi, hoodies and lack of respect for the police as the real culprits of crime. If President Obama had been more like torture expert, Dick Cheney or shock and awe George Bush those Muslim’s would have never even considered attacking anyone in France.

So much terrible has befallen the world in the last few days, but do any of us really know why or how or what for? Perhaps I was too young when Walter Cronkite was on TV to not really know good journalism, but I recall a time when the facts were enough to discuss without the bias and bigotry of wanna be Divas.My opinions were not molded or managed in those days. I could listen to the facts and let them speak for themselves. I am so afraid we have moved too far from that.