While pumping away on the elliptical machine
at Gold’s Gym the other day, I looked up to see two side-by-side flat screens
showing Fox News and CNN. I couldn’t
hear what was going on (I was listening to left-leaning NPR on my headset), but
I could surmise the bias of each from the visual presentation. Fox was interviewing the African American
father of a slain teen who was killed by an illegal immigrant. Meanwhile, CNN featured a discussion over the
banner “Is Sean Hannity Trump’s ‘Shadow’ Chief of Staff?”
I was reminded of last month’s hullaballoo
over the “must-run” speech delivered by local news anchors working for the
Sinclair Group. I confess my first
reaction to this news was, “so what?”
Aren’t we asked to do things we don’t like by our employers from time to
time? Further, there was nothing untrue
in the statement the anchors were directed to read on the air.
Still, something bothered me about it. TV journalists spend their careers
developing a personal brand based upon journalistic integrity. And, having someone else – especially your
boss – putting words in your mouth is inconsistent with the idea of
integrity. Had it been me, my Sicilian
temper is likely to have gotten the best of me; and, today, I would be sending
out resumes instead of writing this post.
The statement suggests that mainstream media
sometimes picks up “false news” from social media without checking the
facts. That doesn’t come close to
identifying the real challenge faced not only by media but also by each of us
trying to figure out what to believe and how to evaluate it.
False news?
Mainstream media doesn’t need help from Zuckerberg et al. How about Dan Rather’s 2004 CBS News report on George W. Bush’s military service during the Vietnam War? Or, the 2008 front page NY Times article
about the alleged affair between John McCain and a lobbyist? Both turned out to be untrue and both
resulted in retractions (Dan Rather lost his job over it). But that doesn’t change the fact that the
choice made by those mainstream media organizations to pursue those stories
reflects their bias.
Then there was the 2016 Newsweek story about
American interrogators in Afghanistan desecrating the Koran. It was later retracted but not before the
Muslim attacks on government organizations and NGO’s which resulted in the
death of 15 people. And, don’t get me
started on the Rolling Stone rape story.
It’s only fair to say that mistakes will be
made and principled news organizations correct their errors, as was the case in
these examples as well as the winners of Trump’s Fake News Awards.
So, what of it?
The word bias has taken on a pejorative
connotation, as if good people shouldn’t be biased. It’s a ridiculous notion. Bias in decision-making has been well
established since Daniel Kahneman’s groundbreaking work (which won him the
Nobel Prize for Economics).
We all have biases including the titular bias
of this post. The danger, as I see it,
is in believing that we can be unbiased.
That can only lead to the certainty that we are right! How can we reconcile our differences unless
we introduce doubt into our thinking? Isn’t it possible that you may be wrong
about some of your dearly held beliefs?
If it’s possible, you are open to learning more. If not, you’ve stopped learning and anyone
who believes something other than you do is dead wrong. How can that lead to healthy dialog?
As for media, bias is reflected in many
ways. The selection of the Fox News
story cited above reflects a bias in favor of the President’s most outrageous
statements about immigrants. The CNN
discussion raises bias to a new level.
“Is Sean Hannity Trump’s ‘Shadow’ Chief of Staff?” isn’t even news. It’s conjecture. A good journalist should be aware of
Betteridge’s Law, which states that, “any headline that asks a question can be
answered by the word no.”
WHO WILL LEAD?
