Transterrestrial Musings  


Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay

Space
Alan Boyle (MSNBC)
Space Politics (Jeff Foust)
Space Transport News (Clark Lindsey)
NASA Watch
NASA Space Flight
Hobby Space
A Voyage To Arcturus (Jay Manifold)
Dispatches From The Final Frontier (Michael Belfiore)
Personal Spaceflight (Jeff Foust)
Mars Blog
The Flame Trench (Florida Today)
Space Cynic
Rocket Forge (Michael Mealing)
COTS Watch (Michael Mealing)
Curmudgeon's Corner (Mark Whittington)
Selenian Boondocks
Tales of the Heliosphere
Out Of The Cradle
Space For Commerce (Brian Dunbar)
True Anomaly
Kevin Parkin
The Speculist (Phil Bowermaster)
Spacecraft (Chris Hall)
Space Pragmatism (Dan Schrimpsher)
Eternal Golden Braid (Fred Kiesche)
Carried Away (Dan Schmelzer)
Laughing Wolf (C. Blake Powers)
Chair Force Engineer (Air Force Procurement)
Spacearium
Saturn Follies
JesusPhreaks (Scott Bell)
Journoblogs
The Ombudsgod
Cut On The Bias (Susanna Cornett)
Joanne Jacobs


Site designed by


Powered by
Movable Type
Biting Commentary about Infinity, and Beyond!

« A New Day At The Clinton News Network? | Main | Missed Iranian Opportunity? »

Moral Confusion at ABC

In a related story, he also said,

"Pearl Harbor as a legitimate target? I actually don?t have an opinion on that and it?s important I not have an opinion on that as I sit here in my capacity right now. The way I conceive my job running a news organization, and the way I would like all the journalists at ABC News to perceive it, is there is a big difference between a normative position and a positive position. Our job is to determine what is, not what ought to be and when we get into the job of what ought to be I think we?re not doing a service to the American people. I can say they attacked without warning on a Sunday morning, I can say this is what the Japanese position is, this is what our position is, but for me to take a position this was right or wrong, I mean, that?s perhaps for me in my private life, perhaps it?s for me dealing with my loved ones, perhaps it?s for my minister at church. But as a journalist I feel strongly that?s something that I should not be taking a position on. I?m supposed to figure out what is and what is not, not what ought to be."

and

"Jews, Catholics, Gypsies, homosexuals as legitimate targets? I actually don?t have an opinion on that and it?s important I not have an opinion on that as I sit here in my capacity right now. The way I conceive my job running a news organization, and the way I would like all the journalists at ABC News to perceive it, is there is a big difference between a normative position and a positive position. Our job is to determine what is, not what ought to be and when we get into the job of what ought to be I think we?re not doing a service to the American people. I can say they were herded into railroad cars, I can say they were gassed, I can say this is what the Nazis' position is, this is what our position is, but for me to take a position this was right or wrong, I mean, that?s perhaps for me in my private life, perhaps it?s for me dealing with my loved ones, perhaps it?s for my minister at church. But as a journalist I feel strongly that?s something that I should not be taking a position on. I?m supposed to figure out what is and what is not, not what ought to be."

[End Satire]

Is this really what they teach in J-school these days?

What really frustrates me about this is the conceit and self deception. Journalists seem to value "objectivity" but they are unable or unwilling to recognize that it's not an achievable goal--they're human. I much prefer a reporter who is honest about his biases and preferences, to one who pretends to be "objective" but is in actuality blind to his own bias. The former makes it much easier to appropriately filter the output.

Posted by Rand Simberg at October 31, 2001 09:14 AM
TrackBack URL for this entry:


Listed below are links to weblogs that reference this post from Transterrestrial Musings.
Comments
Post a comment
Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments: