MEDIA TRUTH IS USUALLY A MATTER OF YOUR POINT OF VIEW
The Free Press June 19, 2003
Jack Nicholson was wrong. We CAN handle the truth. We often search very hard for it. Fact is, truth is an elusive little bugger, and we may not even recognize it when we find it because it has different appearances to different people. Truth has become Point of View.
In last week’s The Free Press Letters to the Editor, Paul R. Marcello of Quakertown wrote that he would like to see reporters “do something besides give an opinion”. He went on to say that he, as a reader, did not know who to believe in the controversy surrounding the YMCA, and he wants The Free Press to investigate and reveal the truth.
Mr. Marcello seems to be caught in a major paradox of today’s society. On the one hand he does not want opinion from the media, but then he turns around and asks for one. And I suspect Mr. Marcello is not alone in seeking his truth on a spoon. But from whom? The vast majority of newspeople are trustworthy, but now even The New York Times is not beyond reproach, a great example of how one bad apple can spoil the entire orchard. In most cases, curious minds have no alternative but to learn through the media.
We live in a world that airs all of its dirty laundry instantly on TV screens and newspapers everywhere. It is impossible for the average person - or indeed, the way-above-average among us - to verify first-hand 99.99% of the information we are bombarded with daily. And now the Internet provides a constant stream of stories from people you never heard of, claiming to tell you the inside truth about Arab terrorists, anti-American French, UN impotence, Bush imperialism, and Elvis in a flying saucer. Who should we believe? In the end, most of us believe what we want to believe, because we have no way of actually verifying anything that we don’t see for ourselves.
I suppose The Free Press should be flattered that at least some segment of the public looks to it for “truth”. But news organizations are no more a source of unbiased fact than the people who write and edit the stories. Truth is relative, often a Point of View.
A quick lesson in journalism: Reporters for any responsible general-circulation newspaper, or indeed any reputable news source, are supposed to write stories using only the facts, without personal opinion or bias. On the other hand, columnists like me are expected to interject our own feelings, our Point of View. The Free Press has several columnists, but only one, Chris Barnes, is a paid employee. The rest of us were chosen for our diversity and ability to communicate on issues of interest to this area. But even our Points of View should be based on something, and not distort the “facts”.
Exactly what constitutes distortion is a gray area a mile wide. Some columnists are well-known for their one-sided approach. You won’t find Rush Limbaugh saying many nice things about Ted Kennedy. Don’t expect Paul Harvey to get all warm and fuzzy about liberal ideas. These showmen have their own loyal following that accepts, even welcomes, these Points of View as fact. Their listeners don’t actually have a way to verify what they hear, but they believe because they want to believe. Perception becomes fact. Point of View.
Mr. Marcello wants the truth about the YMCA situation. Without rehashing the whole saga yet again, consider this: Everything is open to the public. As an attorney, I read all of the legal papers and studied the records. I even offered to send the key document to anybody who asked. My conclusion was the same as the township zoning officer, township attorney, Planning Commission, and Board of Supervisors. Richland is right. Our Points of View.
But obviously there are at least two families in the area who disagree, since they filed suit to stop the Y from building. (And, in answer to Mr.Marcello’s question about the opposition being allowed to write a column, The Free Press offered it to them, and they declined.) Barring a settlement in the case, the decision as to who is right will come from the courts, not from me, not from The Free Press, not from letters to the editor. And there is a reason why the decision of any court is formally called an “opinion”. Judges are people, people have opinions. In the end, the judge’s opinion determines what is “fact”. No more Point of View.
Back to you, Mr. Marcello. Knowing that I am an attorney, knowing that I researched the matter, knowing that I have the key document in my possession, and knowing that I generally support the township, are you willing to accept my Point of View that Richland is the correct party here? If not, are you willing to do the research yourself, and draw your own conclusions? The answers are probably no and no.
The first no does not concern me. I stir the pot. My mission is accomplished if I motivate people to think about the issues. Raise their intellectual curiosity. Create discussion. Stimulate Point of View. And, since I try very hard to be accurate, I believe that if you do your own investigation you may end up agreeing with me. But if not, oh well, that’s why they make chocolate and vanilla.
The second no is more troubling. In a world where so little can actually be personally verified, we have to look to others. The early days of television featured a simple game show called “Who Do You Trust?”. Fifty years later, that is still the name of the game in news reporting. We tend to trust those whose Point of View most closely resonates with ours. Conservative, liberal, pro-this, anti-that, religious, military. An answer that satisfies us personally. Just like Mr. Marcello, we want someone else to do the legwork, and give us our one true truth.
Often, it just doesn’t exist, particularly in something complicated or controversial. So don’t ask the media to make your decisions for you. Read, listen, or watch a variety of sources. Become as informed as you can. And then rent the movie “Network”, starring the late Peter Finch as the obsessed anchorman Howard Beal, who is “mad as hell, and not going to take it any more”. As a six-year veteran of television news, I can tell you that the movie’s premise is shockingly true. If you are captive to the media, Howard Beal died in vain.