By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
When I was a kid there were certain news sources that were treated as unassailable and unbiased sources of truth and fact. This isn’t to say there hasn’t always been skepticism of some news sources. But the anchors for the major networks, and the local affiliates and newspapers, were generally treated with a certain level of respect and appreciation for their professionalism.
The National Enquirer might not be a reputable news source, but Dan Rather was.
Today it’s hard to find a network that doesn’t suffer from some accusation of political bias in one direction or another. I believe there are still reputable and honest journalist out there, in the local and – to a lesser extent – on the national stage. But it’s become easier than ever for folks to find sources that speak to their individual biases and preconceived notions, rather than challenging them.
Underneath even this bias and spin, however, there is often still some objective truth, even if only a grain of it remains. The stories may be biased, but they aren’t out and out fabrications even if they have an obvious partisan spin.
That wasn’t always the case though. At one point in time it wasn’t unheard of for newspapers to completely fabricate stories – especially when they had a slow news week, or during the summer “silly season” or autumn “spooky season.”
Some rather famous tall tales and folklore come from this newspaper practice; including the story of the image of a rattlesnake spreading along the arm of a bite victim and at least some accounts from the famed 1897 airship flap.
We’re not sure if this story in the Carter County Herald, attributed to an unnamed Indiana paper, has any amount of truth in it or if it was a complete fabrication. It’s possible that the editors of the Herald made it all up on their own. Or that they ran a fabricated story they found in another paper.
No matter where it came from, or what amount of veracity it has, the story is a funny little reminder that maybe it’s better, at least sometimes, when folks keep the full truth to themselves.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
