Letter: Truth is lacking in news media

Monday, Feb. 2, 2004 | 9:05 a.m.

Sometimes we lose track of the promises made by all the candidates. With all the modern recording devices at our disposal, we should keep records of what is said.

We should acquire a public service TV station and a newspaper that present facts without personal spin or bias and allow the people to use this information to come to their own conclusions about the issues.

Most of all, I'm offended by the fence sitters who take sides according to whoever they have to please on a given day, or simply show how unbiased they are in order to keep their jobs. Columnist Thomas Friedman, for example, finds a moral equivalency with the killing of Israeli citizens to some Jewish people who want to build homes and settle in the West Bank. This could be politically incorrect, but I wouldn't call it a land grab. Until the Palestinians recognize the right of Israelis to live in peace and stop the violence, they should have no rights to anything.

Controversy in and of itself may be OK, but it's the actual truth that matters and that is what the American public is being deprived of. We need to hear more truth, and receive less information from those who are told what to write and what to say either because their jobs depend on it or they are simply trying to boost ratings.

SHEL BERLATSKY