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The biggest problem with the American press

In most western countries the mainstream media, the press, has become pretty much a propaganda machine for the far-leftist ideology. However, almost nowhere else has this become as bad as in the United States: For over eight years now the mainstream media in that country has stopped being "the press" and become a political activist organization that willingly acts as a propaganda mouthpiece for their preferred political party. Not just their political ideology, but outright political party. And they lie constantly. They lie, and lie, and lie, non-stop, in order to attack the other political party, and to defend their own.

This isn't inconsequential. Still to this day the mainstream media, the press, has a huge amount of influence on citizens, on the people: They shape the public perception of things, they affect voting patterns (at all levels of society), they affect opinions, they affect behavior, they even cause criminal behavior.

The main problem in the United States (although, admittedly, it's not the only country in the world where this is a problem) is that there's nothing holding the press accountable for their lies, for their misleading of the public.

Freedom of the press is of paramount importance. However, that freedom should come with responsibilities. As cliche as it might sound by this point, as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility.

A cliche it might be, but it's very true: The press has a huge amount of power in society. However, almost nothing is holding the press accountable for their abuse of that power. They are pretty much completely free to lie, to distort, to fabricate, to defame, to mislead people, without any consequences. There is no entity in the country that would hold them accountable for those actions.

Most other western countries have (at least theoretically neutral) organizations that are dedicated to holding the press accountable if they do something wrong. If they receive a complaint about a blatantly erroneous report or article, they may send a warning to that publication and demand a correction at a minimum (and even impose some sanctions in the worst cases.)

Sure, the power and effectiveness of these organizations varies a lot from country to country, but at least they exist, at least in principle.

There's nothing like that in the United States, and that's one of the biggest problems in that country. 

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