Bingo! Thanks OF, that's a great way to make that point. That goes right to the heart of what journalists are taught, the core culture. Every reporter is human and has opinions, but real journalists distinguish between fact and opinion, and strive to keep the reporting clean of opinion. Their owners and institutions have the editorial pages to express opinion, which they do. Yes, editing selects which stories to put where and how much space to devote to which stories ... but editors in serious publications are also schooled in the culture. They do equate professionalism with separating fact from opinion, and reporting fact.
It is true that the culture of journalism celebrates exposing lies and misdeeds of people in power. That's been in its blood for centuries, and nobody seriously complains that Woodward and Bernstein had an agenda when they quoted deep throat about Nixon. That's what journalists are supposed to do. That's why we've all grown up with the idea that the free press is fundamental to a working democracy.
Meanwhile, the facts are biased against Trump; the mere fact of reporting his statements, his speeches, and his actions can look like bias because power grab, swamp, checks and balances, bigotry, lies, "alternative facts" and so on. People susceptible to his state propaganda are calling the truth bias as he, from the bully pulpit, disdains the truth and scorns reporters. We've all seen his campaign against the press in speeches, rallies, and press conferences. Name calling, insults, orders of magnitude different from anything that came before. We've been crippled as a nation by the confluence of a terrible worldwide pandemic during a full-blown war against reporting facts. And meanwhile, using social media, competing nations throw fuel on the fire by spending millions to spread propaganda and lies over social media, in which paid opinion is easily disguised as real opinion.
And this power play has had terrible impact related to Covid-19 and our nation's failed response. I've defended the press in several posts on this board because the war against the press has had a directly negative impact on our national response and national will to unite to fight this pandemic. It's not just an outside-of-covid issue. I'm a baby boomer, I was in college when we as a generation took aim on the Vietnam War and segregation. During all of that, on both sides of the issues, we had the common ground of facts as reported by the media. Now, these days, with the pandemic, we don't have common ground as much as we should. That's why I really hate the war on the free press, the opinions that fall into step with that, and the talking points like the so-called "agenda" that casts doubts on legitimate reporting of facts. Because it's killed like 150K of us so far, and we have a lot more deaths coming. And the lack of facts is a serious factor.
Please, don't fall for that.
It is true that the culture of journalism celebrates exposing lies and misdeeds of people in power. That's been in its blood for centuries, and nobody seriously complains that Woodward and Bernstein had an agenda when they quoted deep throat about Nixon. That's what journalists are supposed to do. That's why we've all grown up with the idea that the free press is fundamental to a working democracy.
Meanwhile, the facts are biased against Trump; the mere fact of reporting his statements, his speeches, and his actions can look like bias because power grab, swamp, checks and balances, bigotry, lies, "alternative facts" and so on. People susceptible to his state propaganda are calling the truth bias as he, from the bully pulpit, disdains the truth and scorns reporters. We've all seen his campaign against the press in speeches, rallies, and press conferences. Name calling, insults, orders of magnitude different from anything that came before. We've been crippled as a nation by the confluence of a terrible worldwide pandemic during a full-blown war against reporting facts. And meanwhile, using social media, competing nations throw fuel on the fire by spending millions to spread propaganda and lies over social media, in which paid opinion is easily disguised as real opinion.
And this power play has had terrible impact related to Covid-19 and our nation's failed response. I've defended the press in several posts on this board because the war against the press has had a directly negative impact on our national response and national will to unite to fight this pandemic. It's not just an outside-of-covid issue. I'm a baby boomer, I was in college when we as a generation took aim on the Vietnam War and segregation. During all of that, on both sides of the issues, we had the common ground of facts as reported by the media. Now, these days, with the pandemic, we don't have common ground as much as we should. That's why I really hate the war on the free press, the opinions that fall into step with that, and the talking points like the so-called "agenda" that casts doubts on legitimate reporting of facts. Because it's killed like 150K of us so far, and we have a lot more deaths coming. And the lack of facts is a serious factor.
Please, don't fall for that.
(08-01-2020, 09:45 AM)OutsiderFan Wrote: I hate the Dodgers, but if there is a call made against them that replay shows should be overturned, I’m not going to deny this. So I can be very biased against something, but still take no exception to the truth. Journalism is designed to illicit questions and find truth. It may not be perfect, but if it leads in the direction of truth, it is doing its job.