05-19-2020, 04:33 PM
- What experts think is news. News organizations covering expert opinions is not evidence of bias. That's news. The overwhelming opinion of experts in favor of shutdown is just the fact. It's like client change — fact, verified by science, not opinion.
- Demonstrations, particularly armed demonstrations, are news. News organizations covering demonstrations against shutdown is not evidence of bias.
- Leaders ignoring health expert recommendations, or overriding them, is inherently news. That's always been news and always will be. It's unexpected. Covering that disconnect is news, not evidence of bias.
- When a leader lies to the public, on issues that can be fact checked, the act of lying itself is news. It's unexpected. News has always covered lies from leadership as news. Covering that news is not evidence of bias. When a president looks straight into the camera and lies, that is news in itself and ought to be covered as news in a society that has a free press.
- Fact checking is good news coverage, not evidence of bias. And always has been.
- Publishing opinion clearly labeled as opinion is not bias. The journalistic ethic is to separate opinion from fact. What Peggy Noonan or anybody else writes in a piece clearly labeled opinion is evidence of her bias. Bias can creep in when a publication publishes only those opinions that match one side of a debate or discussion. We all know the general positional bias of WSJ. Some media produce bias in their choice of which opinions to publish. That's a fact. It's their pub.
- What is particularly dangerous in today's climate is publishing opinion as fact, or lies as fact. Some media generate bias in their reporting of the news, with alternative facts and the like. That's dangerous and should be called out.