George Will Is An Idiot

I just heard George Will say on "This Week" that the current turmoil in the Arab world started in Tunisia then migrated next door to Egypt.

Tunisia is next door to Egypt just like Idaho is next door to Minnesota. In other words, quite a distance away.

The Myth of Objectivity

The journalistic pursuit of objectivity (in the sense of being free of bias, prejudice and emotion) is a fool's errand not worth pursuing for the simple reason that it's unattainable. We're all saddled with our biases, emotions and prejudices (and oftentimes we're oblivious as to what they are). A more realistic goal is to strive for fairness while working assiduously to identify and account for our biases and prejudices. Competent journalists can be fair without providing an unwarranted platform for ideas that can be easily refuted.

Selection bias already skews the issues that reporters address. Given limited time and finite resources, there's no objective criteria for determining what to cover. If the selection is biased (as it needs to be), then by definition the coverage will be biased. Acknowledgement of known biases can help the perception of fairness.

A Better Press Corps: Episode 1

A series in which I take journalists and media pundits to task for their acts of commission and omission.


Let's start with my biggest pet peeve. The annoying tendency of so-called journalists to bend themselves out of shape in a vainglorious pursuit of balance really sticks in my craw. Their job shouldn't be to seek balance, but to provide enlightenment. There are matters of fact and then there are opinions. We can quibble over opinions, but we establish or refute facts.

If Shaquille O'Neal states that he's 7ft 1in tall, we don't find a lunatic willing to claim that he's only 4ft 11in. We don't commission a survey to find out what basketball fans believe. What basketball fans believe is irrelevant in this matter. Shaq is either 7ft 1in or he's not. What evidence indicates he's 7ft 1in? What evidence gives credence to a contrary view?

There are plenty of issues in public discourse without clearly discernable facts, but there are plenty of others where debate is unwarranted.

President Obama was either born in Honolulu, Hawaii or he was not.
Evidence for: birth certificate, newspaper announcements, factcheck.
Evidence against: racism?

David Gregory, host of "Meet the Press", believes discerning facts is an audience responsibility.