Tuesday, May 13, 2008

On 'balance' ...

Froggy hits the nail on the head:

...

Balance is killing journalism. Balance in journalism these days means that no matter how factual a report, you have to include a contrary opinion, not so much in the way of giving a fuller picture of things but rather to avoid offending people who don't agree with you. See, I don't offer balance. I take a set of facts and go with that and try to get at truth. That's why I'd be a lousy journalist and CNN would do well to stay far from me. Instead of "offering balance", I offer the facts that tell the story accurately, even if it means somebody won't like it.

...


Update:

And so does Avedon, speaking about Joke Line and his sources:

... "But Klein seems to completely miss the point that, at root, this story isn't about the journalists. It's about the Pentagon. Good journalists shouldn't be trying to argue that they weren't misled -- despite the existence of a broad conspiracy to mislead journalists and the public. Good journalists should be outraged that the integrity of their stories can now be questioned. Good journalists should be running back to their sources and demanding assurances that they aren't paid shills." ...


It is why, over the past 4 years, almost 300,000 people have chosen to stop here to hear two crazy old vets and their pals give their take of what's going on. What Joke Line and other 'journalists' don't get is the damage they've done to their profession over the past 8 years and have probably assured its extinction. At this point it would be no great loss.

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