For the past 40 years, I trusted 60 Minutes reporting and in-depth research.

[frazzled]

7. Sadly (very sadly), I feel the same way about This American Life now

I used to listen to that radio show every weekend. Loved it; best radio ever.

And then came the Mike Daisy/Foxconn debacle. Not just a fabrication but total fiction--as in literary fiction, performance art--sold as documentary. Unvetted, unfact-checked. Aired because ... they wanted to please an audience? It was a good "story"?

So despite everything I've always loved about that show, I just can't listen to it now without thinking, "Is this person telling their story just making shit up?"

I think we need to be skeptical of anything we hear, whether it supports our ideas or goes against them. Sometimes news organizations just make mistakes. Other times they are sloppy. Sometimes they're outright biased and/or devious. But one story from ANY source (even Rachel Maddow) should not be taken alone as proof of anything. I try to withhold judgments now until a massive, incontrovertible confluence of facts emerge.