troyphoto
Snarky Old Fart (in training)
[puts on journalism hat]
Journalists are humans, and have biases
Outlets have political agendas
Almost nothing on national TV feeeds is “objective” the way critics of the media want to portray that word.
A journalist is good if they make their own biases clear
Work to inform the public
Don’t waste time two-sidesing issues that don’t need it
But still deliver information in ways the public can understand, and then use that information to make informed decisions.
As for the separation of church and state, I just listened to a good podcast (Opening Arguments, with real life lawyer Andrew Torres) and he mentioned a case where a past SCOTUS decision came down against prayer to open government meetings… you can do it… but it needs to be for the officials.
In that case, the pre meeting public invocation was practiced in a room with the (lets call them city councilors) in a semi circle, facing the gallery.
The prayer in question was always of one particular religion, and not a representative sampling of the area’s various faiths.
And, the giver of the prayer walked up to the podium facing the councilors, said podium was in the audience area, facing the govt officials. The “chaplain” turned the podium around to face the audience, prayed then spun it around again.
The court decided that since the prayer was targeted at the citizen in the gallery, and not at the counselors, it was breaking that wall of separation.
Basically, it still comes down to a “if you want to pray, then do so. Why are you making a public show of it?”
I fear the current SCOTUS is gearing to gut that decision soon.
