Should Journalists
Inform or Advise?
An old story, but I’m curious about your views.
Newsweek attacked President Obama with an opinionated cover
story. Niall Ferguson wrote the scathing article and later was sharply
criticized for getting his facts wrong. The debate ensued.
Should a magazine advocate a position? Or let readers form
their own opinion?
http://theweek.com/article/index/232260/newsweeks-anti-obama-cover-story-has-the-magazine-lost-all-credibility
Hi Maureen. News coverage offers a wide range of writing and venues. I'm just learning, keep that in mind. My thoughts. Advocacy for a position is news--no one should get facts wrong. I now believe most do in their career--I check corrections and retractions at the NYT daily. I correct things at Grey Sparrow and still get details incorrect--every issue. Journalists promise to be competent, not perfect. Another question I wonder about. What is the difference between focus and advocacy? We all select facts based on our thinking. This even creeps into regular news in papers. I, on rare occasions, check this site when a newspaper appears to be biased. And perhaps, acknowledgements like this have value.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/2012_newspaper_endorsements.php
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