By Theo Rauch | City of Goodland, Sawyer County

Growing up in the Internet Age, we have far greater access to information than any other group at any time in human history.

But, how much of this information is trustworthy?

Are the programs, articles and media we consume real or products of bias and special interest?

You see, while we do have more access than any other generation, we have more problems as well. Problems that many believe have been exacerbated by recent political changes.

However, in his special discussion, Tim Lyke of the Ripon Commonwealth Press, revealed two essential truths that I believe negate much of what we know about “fake news.”

First of all, we need to understand that it isn’t in the interest of any news organization to lie to their subscribers. Why? As soon as they’re discredited they would lose all of their readers, who would take their business elsewhere.

As you can see, lying simply isn’t profitable.

While small inaccuracies occasionally slip through the cracks, the belief that certain media outlets constantly and systematically lie, simply isn’t true.

Finally, everybody lies sometimes. Even though we’d like to think so, lies and deceptions didn’t begin with the Trump presidency, CNN and Fox News. We can’t blame any single person or organization, because, everybody lies sometimes.

It’s really that simple. On this note I’d like to encourage you to be a smart media consumer. Choose sources that you believe are credible and stay away from flashy, sensationalistic headlines.

Ultimately, you control what you view, true, false or otherwise.