Several years ago a friend introduced me to the satirical Babylon Bee website. Unfortunately, Donald Trump’s friends didn’t tell him about it.

Maybe that is due to a lack of friends with a sense of humor. Or of friends who would frequent a Christian site such as the Bee.

Whatever the reason, last week Trump retweeted as truth something intended as satire. In short, he spread fake news.

I must admit the Babylon Bee has never been my go-to site. Maybe it is my sense of humor (or lack thereof) , but I usually don’t find the items that funny. But millions of others do.

The articles tend to be a little over the top. If you stop to think, you can’t take them seriously. I guess Trump wasn’t thinking when he tweeted the Bee’s spoof story about Twitter being shut down in support of Joe Biden.

There are those who say Trump understands that the Babylon Bee is satire. The thing is, he hasn’t said so himself. Given his track record, it isn’t something self-evident.

A lesson that can be learned from this though is to consider the source of your information – and don’t rely on just any one media outlet. As a journalism school graduate and former newspaper and radio reporter, I have noted with some concern in recent years how news and commentary have become indistinguishable.

This is not a new occurrence. At one time many if not most media outlets had a specific agenda they wanted to push. The notions of fairness and objectivity are relatively new to journalism – and indeed we may be beyond the point where those can be assumed.

It is ironic that with more media choices than ever before, it seems most people have narrowed their perspective when it comes to news and information. That is not a good thing. Especially if you start taking the Babylon Bee as gospel.

So what about you? Are you hearing more than one side of the story, more than one facet of an issue? Or are you accepting as truth whatever you are told, not checking for yourself?

Enquiring minds want to know.