Press Neutrality

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Others have brought this up before, but the doctrine of "press neutrality" often effectively means "give the real story and some complete fabrication equal time." A good example, on an important matter, was when the press treated the Bush administration's farrago of lies about the "Mission Accomplished" banner as serious news. On a lighter note, but illustrating the same point, check out this story from the world of basketball. Somehow, Elena Delle Donne's clear, explicit, and quite plausible explanation that she was burned out is given equal weight with Geno Auriemma's idiotic statement that "we might never know why Delle Donne pushed basketball aside."

Auriemma committed a major recruiting gaffe, and now he's desperately trying to hide that fact. But "press neutrality" demands that reporters give his pathetic attempts to distract us from his mistake equal weight with the heart-felt statements of the 18-year-old girl in question as to why she did what she did.

Comments

  1. Anonymous1:59 PM

    One explanation for press "neutrality" is the reporter's desire not to alienate a source -- in this case, Auriemma. If his nonsensical statement isn't reported, he might deny the reporter (or his or her employer) future access and quotes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. gcallah11:36 AM

    Just so.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bob Murphy12:22 AM

    We might never know why the reporter pushed Donne's explanation aside.

    ReplyDelete

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