Back to the Journalism issue

by abcrystcats

Posted to Poetry and Politics on 2004-06-28 16:14:00

Parent message is 669724
I agree with everything Beatvibe said about five posts ago. Any communication is inherently marred by bias, and journalism is no exception. You can strive for objectivity, but you’re never going to reach it. Modern journalism DOES strive for objectivity. And it has gotten closer to that than any previous example. Historically, journalism has always been about selling newspapers. Please, let’s remember that. If you think today’s newspapers are guilty of too much bias, then check out the papers of 100 years ago. They were far worse.

That is why I simply don’t understand Dennis Prager’s rants about the evils of media. Sure, there are biases. A bias is a viewpoint. 25 years ago, I looked out the patio door to what I thought was an out-of-control barbeque fire at the neighbors. That night, the neighbor’s house went up in flames due to arson. Does that mean I was lying to myself — deliberately putting a slant on events? No, I just didn’t have the whole picture, and analyzed what I thought was the most likely event. My analysis was influenced by PERCEPTION and OPINION. This isn’t about scheming, evil reporters trying to con people to support one thing or another — oh sure, those people exist !! They are out there too — but the vast majority of folks in the media are trying to represent the truth, at least as they see it.

The REAL problem (IMHO) is not that the media are deliberately trying to lead us astray, but that we, the American people are so WILLING to be led astray, and so lacking in critical thinking skills. If it sounds good, we support it. Dennis is hammering on the wrong side of the fence.

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