I was listening to a preacher recently and he spoke on what we perceive as news and what someone else sees as less important. He used as an example, a news date from September 5, 1997. Princess Diana Spencer had been killed in a car wreck in Paris, France a few days before. And now it was her funeral day and CNN was doing a real bang up job covering every little aspect of it. They showed the London skyline, the sound of famous bells tolling and snippets of her eulogies by all sorts of famous people. They showed little girls crying and in tears and explained to the viewing audience on that September day how griefstricken the whole world was over this tragic event.

They wound up the story by giving full coverage to the music by Elton St. John loved by all in the liberal world for his views on sex, more than music. Like it or not, we got to hear all his piano concert. The story closed with a somber CNN newsman explaining that no one had made such an impression on the world in the past 50 year as had Princess Di nor had they ever grieved as they were now over the death of this beloved 26 year old Princess.

The CNN guy finishing up this story went on to tell about a hurricane wobbling around in the Gulf and a few other quickly forgotten stories. The story they did not tell was not exactly a secret, but they just chose to ignore it. It was the date that an old woman died in Albania. The elderly woman’s history in charity and health work around the world was noteworthy. Her name was Mother Teresa. But CNN said not a word. The shaping of America by the news continues on.

My best friend Virgil Guy once explained how they slant news. Virgil, a longtime former publisher of the Allen Advocate, said, “Wayne, they just take that white hat off your head and replace it with a black one.” He was right and it still works very well. The press has always known (or hoped) that news is what “they” say it is. I have to admit that a lot of this is in the eye of the beholder. Back in the days of Roosevelt, Kennedy or even Jimmy Carter, there were plenty of Republican newshounds to gripe and help shape public opinion on the powers that be. But it is a plain fact that our liberal education systems have over time, turned the press to a majority left wing weapon of the Democrat party.

So much of a turn that some new right-wing news organizations have sprung up, the most noteworthy is FOX. Others also work at it, but their reader’s numbers are small. But I do not think anyone back in the last century could have foreseen the mess un-balanced news slanting has brought on the United States. Now we do not get pre-election polls anywhere near correct. Politicians call it “preemptive” polling. Or deliberate incorrect polling which helps shape election results and voting. People (it is thought) who vote late on election day might well pass on voting if their favorite candidate has already been pronounced the loser. “No sense in me voting at all if my guy has already lost,” is believed to seriously affect an election, before and during the actual election.

Enough on the election. Now the time is supposedly nearing when we will have a vaccine for the Corona virus. Drug company Pfizer says they are pretty much ready to go and in fact thousands are getting shots as we read. But it is still not approved for the general public. When it is finally approved then there will be priorities. Health care workers first? Nursing home workers? Military? Well, I do not really know. This week a key Biden man says, “Hold on! We will share equally with the world on this vaccine!” So, if Mr. Biden indeed feels this way, look out. It will be December of 2021 before some of us can even roll up our sleeves. By then the Republicans and Democrats will have whip-sawed the public and many will not even know (or trust) the vaccine to be safe. Oh me.

Have a good week and be sure and wear that mask. Help control this pandemic.

Wayne Bullard, DPh cwaynebullard@gmail.com