There was a movie back in the 1990s titled “Sneakers” in which a coded message that’s finally decoded reads, “Too many secrets.” 

As I look at government and the media today, the newest public relations version of secrets come in the form of what the media chooses to report and refuses to report. And the majority of problems we suffer from arrive in the form of government direction in the media’s reporting. 

By now we all should know the news we hear at 6 o’clock on TV, at the top and bottom of the hour on radio and above the fold on newsstands is pretty much a word for word reproduction of what our secret keepers put out. Correct? Or do we? I’m beginning to wonder. And that wonder comes from acceptance. Taking a report at face value or accepting a quick, supportive ad lib as the only facts in a story is done at one’s own peril — especially considering the wealth of information available at our fingertips. 

I looked up “government and secrets” quotes online. Here are four that seemed to sum up my take on this pandemic sweeping our nation.  

“Secrecy is the freedom zealots dream of: No watchman to check the door, no accountant to check the books, no judge to check the law. The secret government has no constitution. The rules it follows are the rules it makes up.”  

“News is what people want to keep hidden, and everything else is publicity.” 

Ironically, these are from Bill Moyers, former White House press secretary. 

“A government by secrecy benefits no one. It injures the people it seeks to serve. It damages its own integrity and operation. It breeds distrust, dampens the fervor of its citizens and mocks their loyalty.”  

That’s from Russel Long, the senator from Louisiana and, ironically, son of Huey Long. 

“When information which properly belongs to the public is systematically withheld by those in power, the people soon become ignorant of their own affairs, distrustful of those who manage them and — eventually — incapable of determining their own destinies.” 

Most ironically, that comes from Richard Nixon. 

What am I getting at? Simple. I take every news report I see and hear and go to the opposite end of the spectrum and ask a simple question. What aren’t they saying, and why did they say what they just said? 

This column was spawned from a local radio report on the price of gasoline. As anyone who pumps gas regularly knows, we don’t need a report on gas prices. But as prices went up, reporters were reporting the obvious. When prices went down, reporters were doing PR for the president. But this last report had a local reporter commenting that gas prices were about the same as they were 10 years ago. Gee, I wonder what was happening 10 years ago reporters would want folks to see a parallel to for political reasons? Especially when the only comparison the people care about is how much more it costs them to fuel their cars? To quote 10 years ago isn’t relevant. Or is it? 

How about what we continue to see with our own eyes? I continue to see items out of stock at stores. The past few weeks included lettuce and celery. Lettuce and celery? Seriously? Even items that were scarce due to panic buying at the onset of the “pandemic” are subject to this ongoing problem. I see certain pastas out of stock along with their sauce counterparts.
On occasion chicken parts and beef grinds aren’t available. Rice is rare off and on. And there’s no sriracha. This tells me the supply chain remains a problem.
Yet, reporters only seem to want to know Mayor Pete’s take on Ron DeSantis’ addressing of illegal immigration.  

Ask yourself when the last time you read, heard or saw an investigative report on any issue? When was the last time you saw a report on our border with video and pictures of what’s really going on? Have you heard about the 75,000-square foot warehouse in the Chicago area which is home to thousands and thousands of classified documents belonging to President Obama the National Archives has no interest in? How about any reporting on the updated COVID shot telling us it’s untested or how exactly it’s new and improved outside of it’s “designed for the latest variant” that’s sure to mutate before it’s rolled out? Any word on car chips or baby formula inventories lately? How about Hunter?

I know. All crickets chirping. Just not here where it matters, rather over there where it doesn’t. We already have the “consumer spending is up” report even though it’s due to inflation. We have “inflation is zero” even though it means the historical rate stays the same month to month. We have “get the new shot” even though you need to get all the old shots for the new shot to work.  

And you can rest assured more Democrat-supporting, spin-cycled versions of these and other questions will be out soon. After all, there’s an election coming.  

They’re gonna tell you a story. Are you gonna ask questions? 

Craig Hall is owner and publisher of the Business Times. Reach him at 424-5133 or publisher@thebusinesstimes.com.