The last few days I've been thinking about the changes in the news which includes both the delivery and consumption of news and how the changes in technology and news delivery impacts the news in today's world.

To me, the thoughts of all this are quite troubling.  For example, except for gossip rags, it once used to be true news used to only be disseminated after it had been corroborated as factual.  Nowadays, too often "breaking" news will be reported with a reporter offering the caveat of how it hasn't been confirmed yet or it will just be reported as is.

Next, there is the inability of news outlets to disseminate information without making it clear it is more of an opinion based release rather than just facts.  For illustration, watch FoxNews, and almost ALL information passed along is tinged with politically loaded words - in other words, outlets like FoxNews refuse to separate "news" from "political" or "opinion-based content."  And whether people believe it or not, with the exception of PBS, out of all the bigger cable news outlets, CNN is about the only one that really reports just news anymore (actually, the nightly news broadcasts still do a decent job of keeping news and opinion separated). 

Though most partisans will refuse to do it, all it takes to notice the difference between "news" and "opinion" is to study the information and language from a linguistic angle.

My last point is how information is now disseminated.  Gone are the days of most Americans sitting down and watching the nightly world news.  Sadly, there are too many other outlets that don't report the "news" and instead report opinion-based information, which is most likely going to get worse as we go on. Gone are the days of factual integrity when it comes to information dissemination. 

I really do not have a problem with the concept of a news channel from a certain foundation like FoxNews, but what I do have a problem with is when a channel portrays their information as "news" when it is not and FoxNews is not "news."  It is a channel for the dissemination of information with an opinion or point of view angle (seriously, I can sit and watch any portion of FoxNews and point out loaded language every time).

And if anyone thinks information dissemination is not an issue in this country simply examine the topic of wearing a mask and the divide over that simple issue.  The divide over wearing a mask in this crisis clearly shows what it means when information is politicized when it comes to its citizenry.