Credibility gap
Regarding “Pitts: Americans have lost the willingness, ability to share a common national identity,” (April 10): I can agree with Leonard Pitts' observation but not with his cause and effect. It is pure spin to try to blame Republicans for the balkanization of the country. He bases his observation on the lack of trust in the mainstream media. This is laughable at best. More than just Republicans have lost any faith in what one departed conservative pundit used to refer to as the “drive-by” media. Why should any kind of conservative, constitutionalist or traditional patriot put any trust in the likes of CNN, MSNBC, PBS or — for that matter — a good bit of Fox news reporting? It is also pure hubris to infer, as Pitts does, that these media bullies are the arbiters of our “common national identity.” Organizations that are cheerleaders for woke radicals and apologists for our feckless executive are not the sources of our “national aspirations” nor the wellspring of our “meaning and mission” as a country. They, along with the social network tech giants, have worked with an ironic intolerance to silence and censure anyone who dares disagree with them. Pitts should be looking closer to home if he wants to see the cause behind this great divide; perhaps he should start with a mirror.
M. Emanuel Pentecost, Shoreacres
I think Leonard Pitts drew the incorrect conclusion in this piece. He states “The average Republican trusts almost no mainstream source of information,” and he blames the Republicans for this mistrust. Maybe he should reconsider the mainstream (or otherwise) information sources. Just because someone does not trust someone else does not automatically make the distruster incorrect. Maybe the media should look in the mirror and ask itself “Why does no one believe us?” Perhaps they have a credibility gap, no different than a researcher who gets caught publishing bad research and is never trusted again.
Remember, the primary goal of any broadcasting organization is to sell ad time, not to inform the public on all sides of a given topic.
Joe Williams, League City