Tradeoffs
As adults, we make tradeoffs. To work as an ER doctor, you give up your nights. You agree to be on call. You work holidays. To work as a business leader, you might have to keep some secrets. Bite your tongue when trying to recruit a new client.
Journalists make tradeoffs. We don’t put bumper stickers on our cars or campaign signs in our front yards. We don’t get to speak the truth at rallies, because we get to speak the truth in our newspapers or on our radio and television stations or on the web.
There’s been some discussion about a freelance web producer/reporter getting fired for writing a sign (which stated a fact) and carrying it at an Occupy Wall Street rally, in order to write a story about it.
There are several problems with this - you don’t inject yourself into a highly volatile political movement, first of all. Second of all, it was totally unnecessary - there’s no lack of real stories with non-journalists. Third of all, talk about feeding into the stereotype of NPR when public media least needs it.
Should journalists openly declare their biases? I’m not sure. I have no problem with journalism organizations that openly declare that. We know where they come from, we take that into account when we evaluate their stories.
But do we want our news anchors to have a (D) or an (R) under their names? What about people with complicated political views that don’t fit into any party (like me)? Should we have a disclosure with every story?
A former co-worker talked to me back when I went on a diet, losing 55 pounds. He talked about how his job was to remove all obstacles between the journalism and the viewers. My weight was a potential obstacle, so he was really supportive about me losing it.
I feel like this is another potential obstacle. Should I be able to tell the world on this blog how I feel about local issues? How I feel about gay marriage, the Vikings stadium, taxation, income equity, regulation, health care?
No. It’s a tradeoff.
Will we someday all declare our biases? I don’t know. In theory, I think it’d be best if people knew where we were coming from instead of us trying to cover it up. But there’s something good about trying to suppress your biases. It makes us better at making sure our facts are right. If I have an opinion on gun control, and do a story on gun control, I work that much harder to make sure my story is fair and accurate.
Frankly, it’s mostly non-journalists and activists who get worked up over this issue. They want us to declare our biases. I’m not sure why. Most of us, as adults, in journalism accept this:
Instead of speaking truth on a personal blog, or at a rally, or on a bumper sticker - I get to report and speak truth on a broadcast television station to hundreds of thousands of viewers.
Seems like a good trade to me.
