Taking an opinion on the matter makes it opinion, not news.

in journalism •  2 years ago 

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It's entirely unprofessional, when writing a news story rather than opinion piece, to include phrases like "falsely claimed", even if most people agree what the claim is, is bullshit. That's a judgement for your reader to make.

Whenever I see that in what's supposed to be a news story, I stop trusting the source entirely and make a mental note to be skeptical of anything else they say... even when I agree in that instance the thing they're claiming is false is. Like... I no longer can think of the source as a legitimate news organization that attempts to be unbiased on the news end.

It's amazing to me that the practice is common now.

You'll notice... In the news stories about Obama, you didn't read "he falsely claimed" it wasn't a tax or if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. In news stories about Bush, you didn't read "the administration falsely claimed Iraq has weapons of mass destruction". You didn't read "he falsely claimed he did not have sexual relations with that woman", or "he falsely claimed read my lips, no new taxes".

I can say without hesitation that I don't think Trump's claims the 2020 election was stolen or Hillary's claims the 2016 election was stolen were correct.

But what's maddening is the stories that claim person x "falsely stated" they were... What did they mean? Do they think the voting machines were hacked? Do they think those counting votes lied? Do they mean Russian bots on the internet unfairly convinced people of something or riled people up? Do they mean there was simply unfair coverage in the media of the election? Do they mean that certain information relevant to the campaign was deliberately suppressed from reaching voters? Do they believe certain points of view were censored enough to fall to achieve their "natural" reach? Was it simply not fair that the election authorities required ID to be shown or didn't allow early voting?

If you can't tell which of these opinions are those expressed by the person in the story, if that context isn't provided... Dismissing the person without giving the context of the claim ain't fucking journalism. It's opinion pretending to be pravda.

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