Greetings All!
We are all cognizant of journalism's important role in our republic. Here are some tidbits, that I have gleaned from reading papers, magazines and online sources.
Whatever was privately discussed recently by the two presidents in Helsinki, their press conference was quite telling. Verbal-nonverbal congruence theories help us understand their motivations.
I was startled by the difference between their deliveries. Trump was standing tall, strong and powerful. Putin was ineloquent and appeared nervous with his constant moving behind his podium.
From Putin's response on the 2016 elections questions, he is not to be trusted. He actually stated: "You can trust no one!"
The Atlantic Magazine article of January 2018 was quite shocking. Putin has ulterior motives to all his actions. He wants to bolster Russia's influence, wealth and power worldwide. He wants to protect himself and his country from invasion by other powers. He actually pays computer geeks $900 monthly to hack and anti-hack computer systems!
Trump's staff is green when it come to global politics. Yet he personally may have unique sense of how to protect us and improve our international standing. It was nice to see other countries paying for our military services at last. The US shouldn't be the world's policeman and definitely not without a cost to the receiving nations!! It may take time, but Trump will learn as well as lead!!
The media has been described as being "fake" by the president and by large sectors of our society. I would agree that media knowledge available in so many sources may require many, to keep their position and followership tend to sensationalize what is happening when it really isn't sensational. They make mistakes, but correct them quickly. The fourth estate is always about finding the truth.
There is also a tendency for the viewership to think that individual events happening a world away are happening in one's own neighborhood. This is a psychological effect that probably has been studied, but should be clear to everyone who falls all victim into that kind of thinking.
For every classic showdown Summit between the leaders of the two most potent nuclear powers in the world, there is a story making national news happening in the small town to folks that could be you or I. The fact that these "filler" stories and videos have time on national news shows that really important news does not take up all of our lives.
Ron