All story-tellers, including journalists, have to figure out how to meet their audience at mutual points of agreement. There has to be at least a rough consensus of what the facts are if your story has any chance of resonating with those listening, reading or watching.
This is one reason conspiracy theories and those who spread them do so much damage in a civil society. They pollute the public square with half-truths, misconceptions and outright lies. They inflame partisans.
That results in a portion of the audience with a twisted sense of reality and barely capable of recognizing the truth when it is presented to them.
Inevitably, in our current political environment, an event like the Kirk assassination feeds those conspiracy fires, making it less likely that a general societal consensus can be forged about what happened and why.
But the survival of our democracy depends on reaching such a consensus, so at this time, we need leaders wise enough to help shut down the conspiracists, reject their harmful theories, and focus on the facts as we discover them.
In short, we need everybody to think like an investigative reporter, a juror or anyone free enough of bias to accept the arrival of truth, however messy, inconvenient and unpleasant that truth may turn out to be.
HEADLINES:
Suspect in Charlie Kirk killing in custody (CNN)
False Tips and Chicken Coops: The Chaotic Hunt for Charlie Kirk’s Killer (NYT)
U.S. authorities find rifle, release photos in hunt for killer of Charlie Kirk (Reuters)
The Tragedy of Charlie Kirk’s Killing (Atlantic)
In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination on a college campus in Utah on Wednesday, MAGA commentators and activists pledged to avenge the act of violence and called for payback in explicit statements, baselessly blaming "the left." [HuffPost]
In the US, experts warn of a “vicious spiral" in political violence after Charlie Kirk killing. (Reuters)
Trump & Conservative Supporters Weaponizing Kirk’s Murder; Dems "Have Blood on Their Hands" (Daily Kos)
Trump announces National Guard will be deployed in Memphis to fight crime (WP)
Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting Brazil coup (BBC)
The Beginning of the End of NATO (Atlantic)
South Korea’s president says Georgia ICE raid could have ‘considerable impact’ on direct US investment from his country (CNN)
In South Korea and Japan, Fury at U.S. Fuels Backlash Over Trade Deals (NYT)
Trump’s emergency order for DC is expiring, but House moves to place new limits on the city (AP)
Trump’s expansion of executive power, including his unprecedented push to send troops into US cities to combat crime and his attempt to seize control of aspects of the economy, has left Americans uneasy, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found. (Reuters)
Federal judge curbs DHS force against journalists in L.A. (WP)
The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits last week hits 263,000, most in nearly 4 years (AP)
Young America faces an economic crisis (Axios)
UK fires ambassador to US Peter Mandelson over Epstein links (CNN)
So many birds are migrating that they’re appearing on weather radar (WP)
Shark Teeth Are Crumbling (Yahoo)
NASA discovers ‘clearest sign of life that we’ve ever found on Mars’ (WP)
OpenAI Signs $300 Billion Data Center Pact With Tech Giant Oracle (NYT)
Jack Daniel’s Unveils New Whiskey For Operating Heavy Machinery (The Onion)
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