The G-20 Summit report in the Sunday paper by Associated Press reporters David McHugh and Geir Moulson provides two great examples of how the media shows its bias. The United States is committed to continuing our decades long progress to do our part in combating global warming. When such blatant lack of “doing the right things” in China, India, Indonesia, etc. with few exceptions, it’s appropriate and imperative that the focus goes to those areas as more urgent global priorities while our steady progress continues in perpetuity.

There is no need for the US to subsidize the cost of these nonperforming nations. We can’t afford to throw billions to others’ aid. We can’t even afford to spend billions for our own needs, e.g. infrastructure, without further ballooning the government’s totally out-of-control spending and a deficit of $20 trillion-plus.

A more appropriate headline might have been “U.S. continuing its own way on climate change”, not “shut out” on climate change. The subheadline was “Trade deal causes tension,” like that’s a big issue. It was a clear win for the U.S. inasmuch as the rest of the G-20 agreed to an unprecedented policy: that any member that is dealt with unfairly on trade by another G-20 member may deal with the offending nation on trade as they deem appropriate until the barriers are eliminated and the trades can be made with a more level playing field. That is a major win for other nations because of the U,S, taking a leadership role. The tone of this subheadline missed the mark by 180 degrees. And we wonder why the country is so divided?

Take the negativity, the polar opposite positions, out of the equation and try a terribly old-fashioned idea: Just report the facts! Report in a balanced way that doesn’t incite division. You might also spend a lot more time researching the data behind the decisions being made instead of ignoring that work in the interest of being the first out with a scoop.

The facts represent the truth. the “why” behind the decisions matter. A “newsperson” spewing generalizations and bias are not journalists. They’re phonies on an ego trip. Regardless of party affiliations, the average U.S. citizen is plenty smart enough to figure out for ourselves whether the news is good or bad for us.

Just the facts, please, just the facts.

Larry Fast
Gainesville

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