The press has always had its fringe element of fearmongering and sensationalism, but for some time even mainstream media has become tabloid television, resorting to the tactics of yellow journalism.

I am not looking forward to the upcoming presidential election, with all of the so-called scandals that are bound to be discovered, or uncovered, or invented. When I was young, I didn’t believe that people in the public eye would have illicit affairs. Well, movie stars, yes, you’d expect that, but not politicians. I was certain that Ted Kennedy was behaving honorably in the unfortunate Chappaquiddick incident, just trying to drive a young woman home from a party. According to George Comstock, author of the book “The Psychology of Media and Politics,” Chappaquiddick was the beginning of the end of privacy for politicians.

Yes, the press was all over Chappaquiddick like snook on whitebait, as fishermen say in Florida. By the time President Bill Clinton’s affair with his intern, Monica Lewinsky, came to light, they were all about reporting and sensationalizing and endlessly repeating every detail. The public’s need to know apparently now encompasses vast reservoirs of sleaze.

Sara Stewart wrote in her book “All the President’s Women” that back in the 1960s President Kennedy quite openly swam naked with young interns and secretaries and had many illicit and random affairs. Who knew?

Well, let’s see … the Washington press corps knew, and the Secret Service, the White House staff, the first lady …

Charles McGrath of the New York Times wrote, “In an era of well-publicized ‘bimbo eruptions’ and gubernatorial call-girl visits, the main lesson here is one we’ve been taught before: that in the old days politicians – with the help of an obliging press and retinues of discreet enablers – did a better job of keeping their private lives private.”

The press refrained from reporting on Franklin Roosevelt’s longtime love affair with Lucy Mercer, just as they kept his infirmities from polio a secret, hard as this is for us to imagine.

The Associated Press was born in 1848. During the Civil War, the advent of the telegraph simplified news writing, and the old-fashioned, rambling, opinionated style of journalism was largely replaced by stories built on “who, what, where and when” by the AP. Objectivity was a goal to strive for, and the pursuit of outrage was for a time abandoned by the respectable press.

As entertaining as sexual indiscretions can be, they are not the only subject matter offered up in sensational style by the media to an appalled and enthralled public. Disease is also high on the list, some diseases more than others. Bacterial flesh-eating infections are favorites, as well as ebola. Bird flu was so hyped up by the media that everyone in the whole world could have been expected to contract it and subsequently die a horrible death, and then-the media dropped it. Just stopped talking about it. If you asked Wolf Blitzer about bird flu right now, he would probably say, “What?”

“Why are the Clintons so paranoid about the press?” I heard a journalist ask recently on a MSNBC Television program. None of the other journalists on the panel he was speaking with seemed to have a clue why this should be so. One did point out, however, that unpopular as politicians may be, the public doesn’t like members of the news media any better.

Sensationalism and the pursuit of outrage are not limited to the media. I will close with a quote by the famous Dr. Joseph Mercola, called a truth-teller by some and a snake-oil salesman by others:

“As I think you’ll agree, books don’t get much more important than ‘The Great Bird Flu Hoax,’ my major new release that I have poured an extensive amount of time into along with my co-author and team. And I can assure you that – because of the great hoax this book exposes and the extremely crucial truths it provides you that have a profound impact on your health – this is one book that certain politicians and big businesses will wish NEVER hit the New York Times bestseller list!”

Speaking of snakes, did you know that a major infestation of timber rattlers has invaded the Adirondack Mountain Reserve’s Upper Lake, and is moving north?

Have a good week.