|
MESSAGE BOARD Middle Man
In "Middle Man," David Greenberg assesses the controversy over Bob Woodward's recent books about the Bush administration. Does a politically polarized America need more books that emphasize reporting over analysis and commentary, as he claims Woodward's do? Or should journalists and historians take a more argumentative approach to covering recent events?
Page 1 We do not need more argument. Too much of that already. We do need more reporting, followed by "what this means to you" at the end, where it belongs, as an opinion of the report, not the report itself. An example, a TV station here in Boston has a website with a discussion group. One individual, blathering on how Kerry was a traitor did not like to be corrected that his definition was unconstitutional and inapplicable. Rather than admit to a mistake, the same individual posted a rebuttal, going on at length how his source is Daniel Webster's dictionary, how Daniel thought about this and that and how judges use it et cetera. When it was pointed out to him that Noah Webster wrote the dictionary, not Daniel Webster, senator from Massachusetts and Secretary of State, still no admittance of making a mistake. That is the result of arguementation. Lies are presented as facts, to prove a point, as long as it seems plausable. Wainwright, Braintree Should there be more books that emphasize reporting over analysis? Howabout if we start with newspapers and daily TV news programs thaty have more reporting than analysis? Especially the cable news networks which find it cheaper (and I assume, better for ratings) to get a bunch of talking heads to give opinions rather than hire reporters to dig up facts. On Friday Tookie Amarualt (mispelled for sure) said that if the news media had taken all the money they spent on "covering" the child abuse case against him and spent some of it on investative journalism, he would have been vindicated. While I have no opinion of his guilt or innocence (nor am I wieghing in as to wether news analysis is bias to the left or the right) certainly the news media is lazy and mostly reports things that are put on a plate for them to feed on. Kevin, West Newbury Don't waste my time with facts that will just cloud the situation, or at best, make it take a lot longer to eventually form an opinion. In business, the first thing you learn about efficient success is 'Don't reinvent the wheel." There are already hundreds of valid opinions that are perfectly adequate for my needs. By providing me the reader the facts only, you have cornered me into having to form my own opinion, which in the end will prove no more valid or insightful than the one you could have handed to me in the first place. cj, somerville I think the general media has become much too analytical. The point of reporting and the news is to present some important event, in as close to an accurate way as possible. It is then up to the viewer (or reader) to decide what type of opinion to form. I have become very discouraged by the major news networks lately. Instead of being able to get information, all they give me is opinion. This was very obvious in a recent story on CNN by Lou Dobbs on outsourcing of American jobs. He has formed the opinion that Americans are losing their jobs to outsourcing, and this is the fault of current trade and economic policies. He at one point had an indepenent expert try to discuss what jobs were being lost, and the causes of the job loss. At one point the expert tried to make a point that many European companies and foreign companies actually outsource their jobs to US workers, but was cut off. His opinion did not support the story, and he therefore wasn't given a chance to voice it. This has become indicative of the current journalistic environment, which causes a large skewing of facts. I feel that to truely have a free press and democratic society we need to have much more reporting and less analysis. The American people are smart enough to hear facts and make up their own opinions. Matthew , Chapel Hill, NC "Just the Facts, Ma'm" No matter who it hurts. Matthew , Watertown MA I agree that presenting the facts is essential. Too many "analysts" and "pundits" apply their politically-motivated "spin" to facts in an obvious effort to garner support for their particular cause, person, or philosophy. I am thankful for Woodward. I am nauseated by the TV "heads" and the nitwit fanatical rar-right radio "talk-show" hosts. Rab, Shelburne Falls, MA Journalists roles are to provide the readers an unbiased, objective report about the issues they are reporting about. That means taking a good hard look at both sides and reporting the facts of the issue so that readers can make an informed decision about the issue. This does not mean providing the facts as they fit their own opinion. This is what happens with The Globe and The NY Times whose motto is 'all the news they see fit to print". The political environment is in dissaray and there is a lot of voter apathy because no one believes what they read any more. It is in the best interest of this country for the mainstream media to be completely objective. Instead they are extremely liberal (except Fox) and people, even liberals, just don't pay much attention any more. Jerry, Rockland As long as as right wing hate radio exists using it's bully pulpit to explain away and apologize for everthing the corrupt Bush administration does, even when it kills our soldiers in a war based on lies, then analysis is needed. The rightwing has it's own news channel and it's own publications including the Washington Times, NY Post, Weekly Standard and anything else owned and published by Rupert Murdoch who's own children will never have to fight a war as he is financially immune, as were Cheney , Bush, Wolfowitz, Perle, and as will be all their offspring. The righwing propaganda machine has been very successful into whipping even the people who's own children into a would-be patriotic frenzy pretending the war in Iraq was about the war on terror and WMD and exporting democracy when it was about making Iraq safe for the likes of Halliburton and ExxonMobil. Gaia, Mother Earth Yes we need more facts, less analysis. We're all intelligent enough to draw our own conclusions and inferences. But more importantly we need old style journalism: tough questions, dogged investigation, going behind the press release to ascertain affiliations. Danny, brookline We could not only use more books that emphasized reporting instead of analysis. We could use more "news" papers. The Boston Globe, in particular, is overloaded with analysis and dreadfully short on real news reporting. On a daily basis less than half of the articles on the front page are really news. Richard, Foxboro
|
Read the story: 
