May 10, 2006

Bias In Journalism? Say It Ain't So!

As Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"

NEW YORK More than half of newspaper journalists in a recent survey believe an unethical or unprofessional incident occurred in their newsroom within the past five years, while seven out of 10 said they had been accused of bias in the past 12 months, according to a study released today by the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

But at least 70% of those polled more often pointed to "factors beyond their control" as the cause of such poor ethical perceptions, rather than their own newspapers' actions.

Of those who had been accused of bias in the past 12 months, most "often blame poor editing as contributing to inaccuracy in their articles." Sources, anonymous or not, also were viewed as "problematic and potentially leading to factual errors," the report stated.

And:

"Newspaper journalists say problems in television news, on Web sites and blogs, and even in tabloids and shopper publications all have a deleterious effect on the credibility of newspaper journalists," the report stated. "In addition, almost one in five say that criticism of media by politicians erodes readers' trust."

In other words, it's always someone else's fault.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: bias has always been, and always will be, a factor in news reporting on both sides of the aisle. Real problems occur when one side dominates or when journalists deny that bias exists. It's even worse that when they're confronted with bias accusations, they try to tie the blame on factors other than their own beliefs and values systems.

You know how politicians are required to make their tax returns public? I think that journalists should be required to make their political party affiliations public. That way, readers/viewers/listeners can read between the lines and get a closer approximation of the truth.