a poet’s notebook

Note to ‘Serious’ Journalists

The rule is so simple it should not have to be stated: if you wouldn’t say male, don’t say female; if you wouldn’t say white, don’t say black; if you wouldn’t describe his clothes- shoes- hairdo, don’t describe hers.

What century is this, again??

Oh, and an amazing study from the Project for Excellence in Journalism:


In covering the Iraq war last year, 73 percent of the stories on Fox
News included the opinions of the anchors and journalists reporting
them, a new study says. By contrast, 29 percent of the war reports on
MSNBC and 2 percent of those on CNN included the journalists’ own
views. These findings — the figures were similar for coverage of other
stories — ‘seem to challenge’ Fox’s slogan of ‘we report, you decide’ . . .

Well, I’m stunned.

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3 responses to “Note to ‘Serious’ Journalists”

  1. Scott Avatar

    I wonder how they determined what was fact and what was opinion. You can’t always tell.
    In my “opinion” reporters on FOX probably let you know that they were expressing an opinion whereas on ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN the reporters simply didn’t bother.
    So when a “study” is done determining who expresses the most opinions on the news FOX comes out way ahead.

  2. Mama JunkYard Avatar

    Found you via Elayne’s…
    I love the way you put the rule into plain simple English.
    I couldn’t have said it better….I may just quote you.

  3. jenni Avatar
    jenni

    Hi SB!
    interesting post! I thought about this very thing the other day at the gym (why i contemplate so much at the gym is beyond me)–my trainer was telling me about her ‘female’ doctor–and i thought, if the doc wasn’t female, would she have said it? i’ve heard the same sort of thing with ‘male’ nurses.

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