“From the beginning and no doubt till the end, history has been and will continue to be shrouded in Munchausen memories. Too often fact has taken a back seat to fancy.” — Milton Gross and Dan Daniel

GROWING UP, WEEKENDS OFTEN MEANT a trip up to Glendora and visits with cousins Ken and Rick. One of the lasting memories of those visits was a book that Ken, a walking encyclopedia of sports knowledge, had on his shelf: “The Fireside Book of Baseball.” A collection of stories, poems, essays, news reports, cartoons and pictures, the book was a fount of baseball lore. Eventually, I bought a copy of my own, which I still have today, complete with dog-eared pages and a checked table of contents indicating my reading of each listed item.

One of those items was a story titled, “What Can You Believe about Series Legends,” from which the above quote derives. The story’s lasting impression on me was a healthy skepticism, even of “reliable” sources. As President Reagan said, “Trust, but verify.”

Which brings us to the subject at hand: What can you believe from the media today?

Those who watch, read or listen to whichever news source or outlet they trust are in fact being bombarded on a regular basis with information, believed to be true, that later turns out to be erroneous, or at least misframed. Withdrawals or corrections of erroneous comments are rare, and corrections are buried on page A9. Talking heads simply ignore past stories to move on to the next.

Recently NewsBusters, a conservative media watchdog that the neo-progressives love to hate, ran a piece by Sean Long titled “Media’s Top 10 Most Embarrassing Predictions of 2013.” Let’s take a brief look at just a few of those items.

• Healthcare.gov Will Be Like Amazon or Travelocity

The build-up was dramatic: Bloomberg’s Peter Gosselin “gushed” that “it will be a lot like shopping for anything online on — on Amazon.” (Sept. 28 on CBS).

Also on CBS, Jill Schlesinger added that shopping for health insurance would be like “going to shop for a flight on Travelocity.”

MSNBC’s Ed Schultz praised the site: “If you go to this website you will find out how easy it is to read, how easy it is to navigate all the information.”

And how were the doubting Thomases treated?

On Sept. 30, CNN “Crossfire” co-host Van Jones said those predicting problems for the website were part of “crazy town.”

Considering reality — brought crashing home (pun intended) the very next day — one has to ask: Now who occupies “crazy town”?

• Well, It Wasn’t for a Lack of Hot Air … We’ll Have a “Disastrous” Hurricane Season

“Climate change” alarmists have been around for more than 100 years. On Oct. 7, 1912, the Los Angeles Times ran a story under the headline, “Fifth Ice Age Is On The Way.” The New York Times rang similar alarm bells as early as 1895.

Well, forecasting has not improved, as the media and others were predicting 2013 to be a year of disasters because of global warming. ABC, CBS and NBC all joined in and “hyped how ‘severe’ and ‘powerful’ hurricanes would be during the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season. …

“NBC reporter John Yang on May 23 ominously warned of ‘devastating tornadoes, searing heat waves, withering droughts and related wildfires, and powerful hurricanes.’ …

“ABC predicted future ‘extreme weather,’ proclaiming: ‘Scientists say human-caused climate change is already helping shift the planet’s natural balance.’”

Reality check: 2013 was the slowest hurricane season in 30 years, with only two storms reaching hurricane status, not the seven to 11 that were predicted.

We know that the “man causes global warming” alarmists, with their religious fervor, will not be dissuaded or give up the cause, even after 15 years of flat temperatures and despite the erroneous predictions for 2013. We can expect to hear their cries of alarm again soon — just like the old Brooklyn Dodger fans, it will be: “Wait till next year!”

• Government Shutdown Will Wreak Havoc on Our Economy! Or Not

The shutdown of the government was loudly touted as being a disaster of unequaled magnitude that would destroy the nation. The costs to the country were blared out on a regular basis. Quoting from Mr. Long:

“ABC, CBS and NBC widely reported that the shutdown had cost the economy $24 billion … Print and online media, such as The Wall Street Journal and The Huffington Post, cited the same $24 billion price tag that came from Standard & Poors.

“Wall Street Journal’s Steven Russolillo called it ‘one expensive wound.’ …

“The Huffington Post boosted the S&P estimate, calling it ‘the most detailed insight to date.’”

Eventually the real numbers came in when the Office of Management and Budget released their estimate (www.whitehouse.gov). Quoting from the OMB report: “Independent forecasters estimate that the shutdown will lower fourth quarter real GDP growth by 0.2-0.6 percentage points, or $2-$6 billion in lost output.”

But the seeds were planted, the legend grew and today the misinformed still tout the $24 billion number as if it were gospel truth.

The above represents just a sampling of the points covered in Mr. Long’s lengthy piece. Other include: receding ice levels in the arctic that didn’t; the president’s “you can keep your plan” promise used to swindle America; and “rising” gas prices that dropped.

As one looks at the complete list, one cannot help but notice a consistent “framing of the news,” as opposed to a proper “reporting of the news.” I would encourage all interested parties to look at the complete, well-documented list, to see if what you saw or read was factual or at odds with future information.

It is important that the country be factually informed, but unfortunately, to paraphrase the late Andy Rooney, people have a tendency to accept “facts” as truth if the “facts” agree with what they already believe.

Dennis Lund is a mechanical engineer who lived in Benicia for more than 20 years.