A Fresh Perspective

As part of my GMU online journalism course I've been tasked with designing and publishing my own Web site and blog. I've decided to name my site Universal Veritas, an English/Latin mash-up meaning universal truth. This title is great because it's an optimistic oxymoron (let that alliteration sink in).

So far as most scientists are concerned there is no universally accepted singular truth. Even the most solidly established fundamental laws of physics break down at certain levels and become subjective. Today's mass media has not received this memo.

Media outlets would have us believe that their versions of the story are the only versions of the story and that the other agencies' representations of the story are biased by some type of subversive agenda. All this posturing means that we the people get stuck with a trickle down, moderated, skimified (sic), sodium-reduced version of the news, but not the whole truth.

Technology is making it easier for us to cut out the Major Media Inc. middleman and share unrefined, organic, no growth-hormone-enhanced news as it happens. Blogs, personal websites, RSS feeds, and podcasts are putting the search for truth back in the people's hands.

Sure, there will always be biased reporting sources, but say for example, if 50 people decide to write separate blogs about an event they all witnessed, we the readers will have a larger pool from which to draw our own conclusions. Universal Veritas will be my contribution to that end.

Check out my other posts at http://universalveritas.blogspot.com/