Free speech

The Trump years were controversial in a number of ways but one change that doesn't get a lot of notice is the way the press reacted. The press including TV and print all moved one way or the other. If a person wants to get a good idea of what is going on it is necessary to watch different news sources but while this is going on people are lining up with one side and thus reinforcing the problem. On one side you have Fox, talk radio, New York Post, Wall Street Journal and on the other side you have MSNBC, CNN, NPR, Washington Post, New York Times, NBC, CBS and ABC. If your news selection does not include at least one of these sources from either side you are getting a distorted view of what is going on. These programs mislead not just by what they say but what they choose to not to cover. Leaving information out of a story can be just as misleading are reporting false information. This is challenging free speech by saying if something isn't true it can be censored or if something is hateful it can be censored. This gives the news people permission to decide what should be published instead of putting out the whole story and allowing the public to decide. This is what happens in countries without a free speech guarantee.