Opinion delivered as fact

One of the key insidious ploys those who feed us the news use in seeking to pull the wool over the eyes of the gullible and the young is that of delivering opinion as fact. Today’s example is from a radio news programme in which the presenter talks to a correspondent in America, saying: “What should we expect from an Obama presidency? The past eight years of George Bush’s presidency have been emotional and intellectual torture for we Europeans, as you know”.

There is no right of reply to such opinion delivered as fact in the mainstream media, no equal air time, and any presenter who dared deliver the opposite opinion as fact would be accused of delivering opinion as fact and be out of a job right away.