I can’t find a “suggestion box”, and I wanted to comment on the Fairness and Balance debate summary. Your summary is a good one, especially the links at the end to resources on fairness and balance on journalism websites.
Fairness and balance have become a joke in journalism ever since Fox hijacked the phrase, and since the fairness and balance rules for the media were thrown out by Reagan, IIRC.
The main problem is that every idea, no matter how looney, is supposed to be given equal time and equal respect, whether it deserves it or not. This is related to the situation where, too often, the role of reporter is reduced to mere stenography, repeating the talking points that each side offers, without any attempt to evaluate their merits, either on logical grounds or on the basis of evidence.
As news organizations continue to be pressured to cut staff, the temptation will be to become mere stenographers for every special interest that comes along. Sometimes it seems that the hard work of evaluation is neglected.
I can't find a "suggestion box", and I wanted to comment on the Fairness and Balance debate summary. Your summary is a good one, especially the links at the end to resources on fairness and balance on journalism websites.
Fairness and balance have become a joke in journalism ever since Fox hijacked the phrase, and since the fairness and balance rules for the media were thrown out by Reagan, IIRC.
The main problem is that every idea, no matter how looney, is supposed to be given equal time and equal respect, whether it deserves it or not. This is related to the situation where, too often, the role of reporter is reduced to mere stenography, repeating the talking points that each side offers, without any attempt to evaluate their merits, either on logical grounds or on the basis of evidence.
As news organizations continue to be pressured to cut staff, the temptation will be to become mere stenographers for every special interest that comes along. Sometimes it seems that the hard work of evaluation is neglected.
Robert M Schacht – Dec. 10, 2008 - 02:44 PM
I can’t find a “suggestion box”, and I wanted to comment on the Fairness and Balance debate summary. Your summary is a good one, especially the links at the end to resources on fairness and balance on journalism websites.
Fairness and balance have become a joke in journalism ever since Fox hijacked the phrase, and since the fairness and balance rules for the media were thrown out by Reagan, IIRC.
The main problem is that every idea, no matter how looney, is supposed to be given equal time and equal respect, whether it deserves it or not. This is related to the situation where, too often, the role of reporter is reduced to mere stenography, repeating the talking points that each side offers, without any attempt to evaluate their merits, either on logical grounds or on the basis of evidence.
As news organizations continue to be pressured to cut staff, the temptation will be to become mere stenographers for every special interest that comes along. Sometimes it seems that the hard work of evaluation is neglected.