But for many reasons, whatever trust the people had in news from
Now tens of millions of Americans are out of work, tens of thousands have died, the people are overwhelmed by conflicting and dueling scientific models of the virus, tribal politics shapes coverage.
And Americans are so confused and afraid that many have been willing to accept suspension of the Bill of Rights.
If that isn't chaos, and the foundation of chaos to come, what is?
Two stories out of
One is the incredible double standard in the treatment of
Publicly admitting you were wrong about something is painful indeed. I should know. Many of us admitted that we were wrong about
The other story involves that amazing lack of national journalistic curiosity over the FBI's crumbling perjury case against former Trump national security adviser
What
Just so there's no mistake here, I am separating journalism into two distinct camps.
One is made up of local reporters and photographers, and other is the
Local news reporters tell you what is going on in your cities, at your hospitals, on the ground, even as local politicians issue coronavirus edicts and glorify themselves with memes as benevolent autocrats.
Local reporters have become ill from the virus. They face layoffs and salary cutbacks in these uncertain times.
The double standard between Kavanaugh and Biden is painfully obvious. Both men were hit with claims of sexual assault.
But the
And Biden? After the story dribbled out about former aide
It took 19 days for it to be addressed by The New York Times. Now Kavanaugh's most ravenous critics in media, politics and the #MeToo movement find themselves talking about "due process," if they talk about the accusation against Biden at all.
Just Google the name of a pundit, add Kavanaugh and "sexual assault" and see for yourself.
The Flynn story is perhaps even more disturbing. Reporters tell themselves they're curious, but this story has been met with an appalling lack of curiosity.
The FBI's perjury case against Flynn is collapsing. It appears the feds used a perjury trap on Flynn to get him out of the way so he couldn't stop a takedown of a president with that now-discredited
"What is our goal?" one FBI official notes in the margins of recently released documents. "Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?"
Whether you loathe President
Eventually, I suppose much will be revealed.
And members of that
You'd think journalists would be angry about being manipulated by sources in a rush to take a
Local reporters would burn such sources to the ground. But on the
What happened with Flynn is, of course, open to interpretation. The best place for it all to come out isn't in news columns, or cable TV, but in federal court.
Perhaps it will, with indictments to follow.
This story needs a wide telling, but it's not being widely told.
America is still wrestling with the virus. The economy is ruined. A depression looms, joblessness leads to drug and alcohol abuse, domestic battery, misery, fear and suicide.
That is a crisis. Your candidate not winning an election isn't a crisis.
Now the people desperately require confidence in the information given them by journalists in
Political tribalism and a lack of curiosity doesn't help.
You don't need a hospital X-ray to tell you what's broken.
Those two stories, the one about Biden and Kavanaugh and the other about
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John Kass is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune who also hosts a radio show on WLS-AM.