Former CBS’ News reporter Sheryl Atkinson posts on her blog some hard work documenting our mainstream media’s errors in fact reporting. As a former journalist, I can see these mistakes in reporting as very grievous and are avoidable. Of course, it’s work to go against your instincts and actually do the leg work to actually back up your assertion in a news story. If you read her post, 50 Media Mistakes in the Trump Era: The Definitive List, you’ll see a pattern of “too good to check” assertions that were written without verifiable facts and times assuming things that aren’t “knowable.” My journalism professors in the early 80s would be aghast if confronted with this truth.

There are lots of takeaways but here is one: Those in these mainstream houses cry out about “Fake News” implying that they are the only ones who have the resources and the objectivity to print the truth. First, as those who know a little about journalism history, anyone can be a journalist, providing they write, learn, and verify their facts and label their conclusions as opinions. This is not where only the big ones are the arbiters of truth. This is important as Apple, Google, and others pick and choose those they presume to be fact-based journalism sources, ignoring those outside the mainstream who build a reputation for quality journalism. I know of some blogs that present journalistic values that qualify to be included, but they won’t because their point of view falls outside of the big players’ view. Throwing in only FoxNews as proof that you’re allowing other viewpoints doesn’t count (I’m looking at you, Apple).

The other notable item I noticed here is how many times certain names keep appearing in these items. An outside person looking at this could be forgiven for thinking that some of these reporters aren’t learning from their mistakes.