Thursday, 21 July 2016

Generalizations

Hello, I'm a journalist. Accusations of bias or inaccuracy used to irritate me the most, since I was trained to at least attempt an accurate and unbiased report.

However, "complete objectivity is nothing no flesh and blood being can achieve" (Michael Grade, in his autobiography - It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time, link coming).

Therefore, a new accusation has emerged as the rallying cry amidst the plurality of voices - that of uniformity.

I, a veteran journalist and producer on non-profit platforms, stand accused of being part of an amorphous mass known only as "the media" - also occasionally lengthened to "Mainstream Media" or MSM,  even though no one can agree what 'mainstream' means.

Often you will hear accusations of exclusion from the media or MSM on those very same platforms.

I've engineered a few sessions where I heard such things. Usually, when challenged, I've been told "Oh, but not you. You're good."

Please:

Be precise with your accusations of bias or exclusion and hell, maybe be precise with your complements too.

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