We always need to stay vigilant, but I've started getting more and more careful of news I take in personally, as well as from friends, in this moment.
I've been challenging people for sources more, calmly, but those conversations can still get a bit uncomfortable with some. It starts with challenging ourselves, which I personally strive to do as often as needed. I think schools should be teaching classes on methods to verify truth as core curriculum - it's only going to get harder for our kids with technological advances, and with media and marketing always hungry and ready to pay for any small advantage those advances may afford. We should really have this instinct honed before graduating high school and entering the larger world.
To that end, I hadn't looked specifically, but just realized that KATU 2 in Portland, where many of us, our relatives or our friends may watch the local evening news, is a Sinclair Broadcast Group station.
If you didn't know, Sinclair has a very specific point of view that they aren't very artful at hiding. Many learned of that when this viral video was released a while ago - KATU was actually featured prominently in this cut of all of their stations in the country being made to read the same exact statement, verbatim, with a pointed message about the dangers of a maliciously curated narrative. PBS NewsHour did a deeper look into it and there's some popular clips from late night hosts floating around that discussed it as well if you'd like the lighter side of a darker story.
Whether you agree with the politics or not, I suspect the folks that spend time on watch camas share in common the need for a verifiable and organic truth. Please remind your friends and family to be careful of national AND local media. As a lot of news breaks in Camas and nothing is mentioned on stations like KATU, it helps me remember that nobody is immune, even in our own backyards.
