Dr Constantinos Scaros

Professor, attorney, editor, columnist, presidential historian, political strategist and published author.

American Politics, Journalism, and Academia in 2020: the Search for Accuracy and Integrity

By Dr. Constantinos E. Scaros

The tougher question for prospective voters in American elections – whether on the state, local, or national level – is not necessarily for whom to vote, but rather how and where to obtain accurate information.

Whether newspaper articles, broadcasts, or Internet searches, it seems that one has to muddle through versions of the truth tainted by ideological bias and embellishment for increased views and clicks. I am in the process of completing a book titled Trumped-Up Charges!, which debunks ten allegations about President Donald Trump – some out of context, others misleading exaggerations, others yet outright lies – perpetuated by the media and academia. I can easily write a similar book to disprove ten allegations against the president’s Democratic opponent, whoever he or she may be.

Biased “reporting” by amateur bloggers is one thing, but when professional members of the press engage in that sort of behavior, poisoning news stories with covert opinion droppings, it amounts to journalistic malpractice.

Teachers and professors are even worse: unlike media outlets, educators wield tremendous power and influence as they shape young minds. Rather than encouraging the maxim that the truth can best be tested in the marketplace of ideas, they often indoctrinate students by browbeating them into adopting likeminded groupthink and a militant intolerance for diversity of thought.

As of this writing, approximately eight months remain until the general election, in which the entire House of Representatives, a third of the Senate, countless state and local offices, and the American presidency are at stake. Regarding the latter, all indicators at this point suggest that President Trump will win his Republican Party’s nomination and either former Vice President Joe Biden or Senator (Vermont) Bernie Sanders will be the Democratic Party nominee.

Who would make a better president – Trump, Biden, or Sanders? That is the easy part: voters simply need to examine their own priorities and determine which candidate is best suited to causing them to happen. The difficult part is that making such an informed decision requires accurate information. One might expect each campaign to be biased, but when we cannot depend on our reporters and educators to possess the integrity that would compel them to give us information that is correct and evenhanded, our only hope is to work hard at examining numerous sources and rely on our instincts and judgment to determine which ones are reliable.

Constantinos E. Scaros, JD, PhD, is a presidential historian, attorney, educator, and the author of several books. His latest, Trumped-Up Charges!, is due for publication in May, 2020.