"Balance"
Respectful of Otters has an interesting bit on "the faux 'journalistic objectivity' achieved by presenting every story as if it had two equal sides".
Holocaust deniers intentionally blur the distinction between the First Amendment right to speak freely, without government restraint, and the right to publicity, an audience, and scholarly consideration. Unfortunately, both in the media and in academia, far too many people have been taken in by these tactics. However repellent the ideas of Holocaust deniers, they argue, it would stifle intellectual freedom and journalistic objectivity to... well, apparently, to insist that the truth be presented as the truth.
It seems to me that Wikipedia's philosophical agonizing about the neutral point of view comes closer to tackling this than any other discussion I have seen. (Perhaps a similar or better theory is developed in journalism classrooms or newsrooms, but we don't see the discussion and rarely see good results.)
posted Sun 3 Apr 2005 in /software/wikipedia | link
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