My View: Affirmation Or Information

POSTED: 6:34 am EDT October 19, 2004
UPDATED: 1:44 pm EDT October 19, 2004

Would you rather have affirmation or information?

It's a question I hope to ask this Thursday night. Or better yet, I hope it gets asked of me that evening as WTAE Channel 4 broadcasts a highly anticipated, hour-long, live Town Hall Meeting hosted by Peter Jennings at 7 p.m.

As a 20-year plus news veteran, it isn't often that I get to interject my opinion. Believe it or not, I go out of my way to check my opinions at the door every day when I come to work. In fact, everyone I know in this business, regardless of personal beliefs, goes about their job much the same way.

It's one of the reasons I'm a registered Independent. I like the sound of that word. It has a nice ring to it.

Call me old-fashioned, but I believe journalists should be reporting the opinions of others, not making headlines with their own -- unless of course they have a Web column. I haven't wrapped my arms around that yet.

Still, I am afraid I will soon become part of a growing minority. It seems to me that news programs and news reporting these days easily anger people. This possibly occurs more now than ever before, at least as long as I can remember. The anger is palpable. And so too is the mistrust. They simply believe we are spinning the story in favor of someone or against someone. Sometimes two people with opposite beliefs can be angry at the same report, believing their side was wronged.

Part of it may be attributed to the proliferation of news and news-like programs on TV that bombards us all day and night. They seem to come in all flavors, colors and deliver the news with different tones, tenors and voices. Some programs are more blatant than others.

Fair and Balanced, which a lot of folks think may be anything but that, gives news with a certain "flavor." At least, that’s the impression. The perception. And you know what people say about that. Perception is reality.

A lot of people like their news fair and balanced. They like the feeling of watching and hearing news from people they view to have similar or like sensibilities and beliefs as they do. People they imagine to be like themselves give them the news. And they are comfortable with that.

So, as much as we in my industry like to think viewers watch or don't watch because of the quality of our reporting or the obvious impartiality with which we report, it may be viewers really want none of that.

When asked whether they would rather have affirmation or information, they may very well simply pause...and ask for both.

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