As we discussed in class, the Four Gospels in the New Testament all tell essentially the same story of Christ's ministry. But, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all had different backgrounds, experiences and perceptions and they each added their own insights.
It's the same today with reporters. We all bring something different to the table. That being said, it is very important for journalists to stay clear of bias or prejudice. In the 2006 Duke lacrosse case, an African-American exotic dancer accused three white Duke students on the lacrosse team of raping her. Because of the way the story was covered, most of the world took her side and it became a racial issue. Despite their claims that they were innocent, the students were painted in a bad light by the media when they should have been given the benefit of the doubt. (Innocent until proven guilty, remember?) A year later, the woman's claims were ruled to be completely false.
In general, American broadcasting is considered to be biased. Former Democratic candidate for president, Howard Dean, called Fox News a "very expensive, incredible well-funded, right-wing propaganda organization." On the other side, New York Times writer Alessandra Stanley dubbed MSNBC as "Fox's liberal evil twin."
 |
| Image retrieved from http://danieljmitchell.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/media-bias-1.jpg |
A worldview is a good thing in reporting. It brings passion and humanity to the news. It means that journalists care. The important thing is to always produce news ethically and honestly, no matter what our worldviews are.
* For this week's extra credit, I posted a comment on Elizabeth Merrill's journalism blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment