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Monday, February 16, 2009

Media Monday - February 16, 2009

Can You Believe What You Read? - Part I

Whether you read the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Daily Times or Salisbury News, can you believe what you read?  As with most thing in life, it depends.

There is no question that multiple sources help to separate the wheat from the chafe when consuming news.  Unfortunately, the onus still falls upon you - the reader.  There are seldom multiple sources of local news.  You have to decide if you want to believe everything you read or at least attempt to be an informed consumer of your daily news.

In Part I, we'll be examining the print media.  We'll give you examples of bad reporting (even some stuff bundled as news that on the reporter's best day couldn't be called reporting), not so subtle bias, and what you need to look for unless you want to start believing what you read in the National Enquirer.

In Part II, we'll flip the coin to look at the blogosphere.

In Part III, we'll examine TV and radio.


Start off by asking yourself a question:

Am I interested in real news, or do I just want someone to confirm my opinions?

If you just want someone to validate your views, it's pretty easy.  Finding facts is a little bit more difficult.  It can still be done, but you're going to need to put some work into it.

Read More ...


9 comments:

cgilbert said...

Well written (as usual) GA. It is unfortunate that Gannett has no, or very low, standards that they hold their reporters & editors to. If they exhibited any semblance of accuracy or fairness in reporting there is a chance they could actually keep some of their subscribers, even with the poor delivery service and reduced quantity of material being provided. It would be an interesting exercise for the Political Science Dept at SU to do a study of the articles and reporting done by the DT during local political campaigns to actually quantify the bias in articles and editorials.

Anonymous said...

God bless you G.A. No one says it better!

Anonymous said...

G.A., that was right on the money! Laura D' has gone from blaming her editor for taking liberties with her writing to now professing a comic bent in her reporting to cover up her journalistic shortcomings.
You can't have it both ways, Laura. Either you're a responsible journalist or you're not. We still have high hopes for you - try not to let us down again with such questionable reporting.

Anonymous said...

Well done, G.A.

Anonymous said...

ummmm I gotta say this even if it might not get posted, at least GA will see it....
Ted Shea was not "gunned down" on a city street. That has connotations of him walking down Main St. at noon and someone jumping out in front of him aqnd shooting him repeatedly.
What he was, was jumped at an "out of view" of the public ATM after dark.
Lets call it what it was...a crime of oppertunity (sp).
While not a great choice for him, he made it and no one could have seen it coming.
You make it sound like someone had a reason to shoot him. Not so, I'm sure.
I may have opened a con-o-worms here but I had to speak my mind.
Jebus, you crack me up sometimes.

Anonymous said...

7:52 ...so you can't go to the ATM at your Stare Credit Union on Mt. Hermon Rd. after dark without being shot? This street is not in the "hood." No one is safe from the Tastee Freeze to home invasions in the neighborhood that you call home to your bank. Crime is down - you must be kidding. If crime wasn't rampant why wouldn't you expect to be perfectly safe making an ATM transaction at the credit union or any other bank in town?

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:52
The point is that even the administrators of our local government are no longer safe in this beautiful sewer known as Salisbury. The present administration and it's hired hands have been so enthralled with their own greatness they have ignored the crime on the streets. The Daily Pravda has helped them on their way by printing fiction to keep these idiots in power.
GET A CLUE!!! That could have been you or your family shot by simply deciding to turn down a certain street or God forbid grab some of YOUR cash from the ATM so you and your family can enjoy a night out. The message I get from your post is that we should all hide at night, not that the scum that this administration helped perpetuate be actually held accountable for their crimes. If we had some actual news printed on that waste of paper, maybe people would actually be able to make informed choices as to our actions.

G. A. Harrison said...

It's a fair observation. In fact, I was pulled on using that particular description myself.

I certainly didn't mean to imply that Ted "had it coming". My point was that a prominent public figure was shot in Salisbury while the newspaper is proffering an argument that people don't vote because everything is so wonderful.

Anonymous said...

When someone -- anyone -- gets that many bullets at an ordinary location, that's "gunned down." I didn't take it at all as "gunned down" like "had it coming" or Mafia hit, for crying out loud.

It's not like he was out at 2 a.m. at the Wawa ATM and then flashing a wad of bills on the street. Get with it, 7:52. It was a reasonable hour of the evening, on Valentine's Day no less.

Anyone who thinks it's acceptable for a young woman to be stabbed to death for getting ice cream at 8 p.m. or for a public official to take multiple bullets at 8 p.m. for getting a little Saturday night cash has ROCKS IN THEIR HEAD!

I know big cities where you can do those things without fearing for your life. We are NOT a big city, and THIS is NOT acceptable!