Estate Planning: Watch Their Language!

       Well, to be more accurate, to maintain my own journalistic integrity, I should state: read and listen attentively to 'their' words, the ones 'they' use to report the important news of the day, what  we need or, according to the results of ratings, what we want to know. In other words, the GOOD NEWS is that it starts and ends with you and with me. I am compelled to write this post due in part to the increase with which people have been reporting to me their frustration associated with their news consumption lately, which is turn no doubt related dynamically to the daily negative news associated with COVID, the contentious election, and the amount of time we have had to watch and listen. 

That Time of the Year: As you start to gather your pay stubs, 1099s, receipts for tax deductible expenses, and all the other 'stuff' your accountant or "Turbo Tax" prompts you to go and find, it is commonplace to also be asked whether your estate plan needs to be updated. In addition to the more traditional one, I am prompting you here and now to reflect on...

The Fourth Estate -- that which is now come to be associated with the press in all its forms, whether TV, newspaper, or digital. The term derives from earlier European history. For my use today, more specifically in England, where there were three groups represented in Parliament, including the nobility, clergy, and commoners. Some other groups, like the 'mob' or public press, had an unaffiliated but increasingly strong influence on public affairs....which came to be known as the Fourth Estate. It now applies to all branches of the news media. 

The Lady in Red: The Fourth Estate eventually came to be represented in the U.S. in part by the White House Press corps as well as the Press Secretary (a post that has evolved over time).Typically, a weekday news briefing is held in the James Brady Briefing Room, which holds 49 reporters, each representing a news gathering organization (my how they've grown--I invite you to briefly review the long list and see which you tend to affiliate with), the most prominent occupying the first two rows of seats (lately there have been fewer sitting and more standing, as they have had to distance). Getting recognized in these briefings can be a big deal and the relationship between the press corps, press secretary, and the President is a topic of ongoing strong interest --during the last administration it was characterized as contentious, whereas at other times almost friendly. For example, the relationship Ronald Reagan seemed to cultivate with Helen Thomas of the New York Times, who occupied a front row seat for 60 years, and whose "Thank You Mr. President" became part of her moniker and a level of polite deportment recently not in evidence on either side...(full disclosure compels me to acknowledge Ms. Thomas herself abruptly resigned from her post due to some disparaging, anti-Semitic remarks she made). It was also during the Reagan era that women of the press corps came to wear red more frequently, as President Reagan tended to call on those wearing Nancy's favorite color. The 'brighter side', eh?

A Slippery Slope, Am I a Dope?: Traditionally, reporters were trained to simply report on the facts of a story or situation, which in turn compels the person distilling the what, where, who, and when to do some critical thinking and come to a conclusion as to the how and why. 'Columnists' and those you might read on the editorial or 'op-ed' pages, openly share their opinions. The roles often get blurred, and we as those consuming news need to be keenly aware of how they represent themselves, by reading and listening closely; it's that simple, that challenging, as it requires both rapt attention and critical thinking, two elements I have found sorely missing lately (well before the pandemic or recent election).

Exercise Your Voice: Unless you are welcomed into the 'Nielsen Family' (i.e., selected/invited to be more actively monitored on your TV and other media consumption), one of the best ways to be more discerning in your consumption of news in particular is to do the following exercise(s), which I guarantee  (money back, not that you paid any for admission here) you will become a stronger consumer and feel more in control:

1. Newsfeed...Indigestion? The next time you hear "Breaking News!" try either turning off the sound or only listen to the audio portion, and take note of the cadence, tone, and volume, and see how each half hour segment transitions from a 'rapid fire', 'in-your-face' pace to the last five minutes or so being characterized by a lower intensity and reassuring tone/content (each of the three major networks feature a type of 'good news' story to calm us down, keep us coming back for more...referred to as a 'recency effect'  in psychology). Also check the gizmo on your wrist simultaneously to see what your bp, etc. does and no wonder we are getting indigestion during and after dinner if we are also consuming this stuff. Finally, ask yourself how much of these Breaking News stories warrant such hyperbole, whether they are in fact new, and impactful to your life. If the major news networks fail to find a in-the-moment calamity to report on, notice how they resort to reporting severe weather, which is bound to happen somewhere each day on this globe of ours.

2. Fact Check the Fact Checkers: Have you ever wondered or bothered to check 'their' sources; do you see reporters standing on your street corner? Do you know who/what their sources of information are and whether they vet them thoroughly before committing this stuff to print? Wouldn't you like it if they had to provide their sources after each story like you had to in high school? 

3. Watch Their Language: A journalistic exercise I enjoy and encourage, whether reading or listening to the news, is to discern the position the reporter is coming from as well as that they are trying to persuade you to, even subtly. Listen and watch for the key words that signal they are going from pure reporting to commentary, even activism. Sometimes obvious on the opinion page, but if you look and listen closely, you can many times detect this even in stories that are ostensibly straightforward, those that are theoretically written so as to allow us to think critically and draw a conclusion. There is a strong opinion among those that are monitoring journalistic accuracy and integrity that a sizable percentage of Americans don't really want to bother to investigate and think critically--I  hope otherwise.

4. Connectivity, Selectivity: Consider and answer the questions: a) which news source do you prefer and why? b) following your reading or viewing of the news, what did you learn that is instrumental to your life and would your time be better off spent digesting other forms of information (e.g. History, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Discovery channels, pod casts, You Tube, books, etc.)? 

"The closer we got to the news, the less we knew of what was going on..."- Army GI, artillery, on D-day

The Power is in Your Hand(s): Besides writing your own opinion to the respective editors, there is the remote, mute, and mouse -- "Use The Force..."