The truth is not dead, but it is abused daily. Unscrupulous politicians and media without morals have tried to make us believe that we live in the post-truth era and that the lie has triumphed because it is much more fun. Donald Trump ended his term having told 30,000 lies, as recorded by The Washington Post, and missed re-election by just a handful of votes. Fox has been branded by Joe Biden as an “uncredible” media outlet after losing a defamation lawsuit, firing the star anchor for lying on purpose and admitting to the owner that his reporters had gone too far, without affecting the audience
But the truth remains what it was and the quality press weathers this perfect storm of indecent politicians and journalists. It is not easy to prevail, because on social networks lies flow at the same speed as hate messages. The New York Times had to clarify a month ago that they had never written that Pedro Sánchez was “the most lying and hated president in Europe” for his change of mind regarding the amnesty, contrary to what he spread a fake Twitter account, also present on Facebook.
Because of all this, the acquittals of December 28 have practically disappeared from the newspapers and are limited mainly to the sports press and mónonline. The truth is battered enough to go with jokes. But until twenty years ago it was tradition to make the reader innocent, as the journalist José Manuel Burgueño has published in an anthology of today’s jokes, entitled Se vende La Cibeles. Some acquittals have been prescient, such as the separation of the Beatles two years earlier or the signing of Ronaldo by Madrid when he was still playing for Barcelona. Others were more upset, such as the fact that Felipe González had won the ONCE lottery or that the Christmas bonus had fallen to the Minister of Finance.
It is increasingly difficult to distinguish lies in the information jungle in which we move. And in the midst of this came artificial intelligence, which not only threatens the truth, but even reality. So just kidding, just like today.
