Extensive media coverage of this year's US Presidential election will soon be relegated to a page in the history books. Millions of words by thousands of reporters, commentators, and analysts will be forgotten overnight. Only the scent of victory or defeat will remain. Pausing momentarily to grin or grimace at the results, wordsmiths around the world will return to their keyboards to pound out tomorrow's news by today's deadline.
The quantity of published information and commentary available via Internet, radio, print media, and television is practically impossible to assimilate. An individual can sample only an infinitesimal speck of what's published. I read headlines and articles from a dozen Internet news services in two languages and flip through two or three daily newpapers, including The Christian Science Monitor. I like to sample articles from weekly or monthly periodicals reporting from various perspectives—US-Hispanic, African American, Native American, alternative/liberal, Christian, and others. While traveling, I've picked up local newspapers in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Peru and found it fascinating to view the world through others' eyes. Each publication has a different flavor and focus on issues. Every periodical reports the truth as its particular writers and editors see it.
The availability of multiple perspectives provides all kinds of benefits. The media employs thousands of people around the world. Furthermore, practically any viewpoint can find a voice. No matter how repressive a society or unpopular an opinion, words find a way into publication through print or the Internet. The volume of words might feel overwhelming, but truth cannot remain hidden or abused for long. Sooner or later, a voice of truth finds a way to speak in spite of darkness and to shed light on any particular situation.
