An Example of Poor Journalism
I'm reading through this site, which is a conservative website called "Fathers for Life" that's about reconstructing the idea of men, and on the FRONT PAGE it has a little warning:
This site contains news and commentaries pertaining to fatherhood, fatherlessness, family issues, gender politics and the deconstruction of our society.
The news items and other information found on this website reflect a conservative perspective. If you don't like families, fathers or conservatives, don't read anything at this website, as what you read here will possibly prove to be harmful to your beliefs.
Wait wait wait... harmful? To my beliefs? Like any of the bullshit and facts and figures you've discovered will alter my beliefs? Let's get something straight here. I'm a journalist. I am well aware of how you can skew facts and twist numbers in order to support your opinion. I also understand that people are biased and will change words around to use the connotation of the word to mean something much greater than may be necessary. I know how to look at reading material objectively and question the accuracy, while understanding the biases of the author.
So... you think, that just because I'm reading the figures you provide, I'm going to change my beliefs? No matter which news sources or books or other materials you pull up to support your cause, I can guarantee there's another website out there pulling up opposing sources to say the exact opposite and they may be no more accurate than you.
It is QUITE presumptuous to assume that someone reading your material will come to support you. I've read a couple pages and am already shocked and appalled. And I read a lot mind you. Liberal and conservative, I don't care. I need to feel informed.
THIS bit takes the cake, however:
Information on this website may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Information may be changed or updated without notice. We do our best to provide accurate information on this site in a fair and impartial manner.
What the fuck? You already said your biases. Stating your bias does not mean you are "fair" or "impartial." It means your audience knows how deep the pool is before they get in. Regardless, it's still water. Being fair implies stating the other person's argument, as ridiculous as it may be, and not immediately discrediting it. Being impartial means stating the facts, only the facts, and not throwing article after article of the same/similar opinions at the reader.
Technical inaccuracies? Okay, I can understand that you're a busy guy and maybe typographical errors go unnoticed (although grammar and style editing should be a MAJOR part of letting an article be published on a website) but... TECHNICAL INACCURACIES?
I don't care how pretty you make that sound, it still means the same damn thing. Wrong. Incorrect. You've exposed your bias AND you've said you could be wrong. Why should anyone feel comfortable reading this? You've admitting that you're a) only looking for material to publish that will support your viewpoint, b) not proofreading the material to the degree it should be before publishing it on your website, and c) attempting to change the minds of the people it is written for.
I'm halfway through college, and I have to say, with all the classes I've taken, I wouldn't take this seriously. Even if it were a liberal site. I intended on writing about a couple of the articles I read on it, but now I'm just so annoyed with the low standard of journalistic principles that I can't stand to waste time on writing about their articles. And THESE are the kinds of people that get pissed off at the media, calling us biased and unfair and all that jazz.
At least we try to write as moderately as possible, being fair and balanced, using sources that not only portray our side, but the opposite as well, and we PROOFREAD OUR MATERIAL. Copy editing? Great job. Hard work, but great job.
I'm not saying everything has to be completely without bias... you wanna make a website to support your beliefs, go for it. But don't say you're objective when you're not. And most important of all: don't quote inaccurate information. There's enough misinformation out there already.
This site contains news and commentaries pertaining to fatherhood, fatherlessness, family issues, gender politics and the deconstruction of our society.
The news items and other information found on this website reflect a conservative perspective. If you don't like families, fathers or conservatives, don't read anything at this website, as what you read here will possibly prove to be harmful to your beliefs.
Wait wait wait... harmful? To my beliefs? Like any of the bullshit and facts and figures you've discovered will alter my beliefs? Let's get something straight here. I'm a journalist. I am well aware of how you can skew facts and twist numbers in order to support your opinion. I also understand that people are biased and will change words around to use the connotation of the word to mean something much greater than may be necessary. I know how to look at reading material objectively and question the accuracy, while understanding the biases of the author.
So... you think, that just because I'm reading the figures you provide, I'm going to change my beliefs? No matter which news sources or books or other materials you pull up to support your cause, I can guarantee there's another website out there pulling up opposing sources to say the exact opposite and they may be no more accurate than you.
It is QUITE presumptuous to assume that someone reading your material will come to support you. I've read a couple pages and am already shocked and appalled. And I read a lot mind you. Liberal and conservative, I don't care. I need to feel informed.
THIS bit takes the cake, however:
Information on this website may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Information may be changed or updated without notice. We do our best to provide accurate information on this site in a fair and impartial manner.
What the fuck? You already said your biases. Stating your bias does not mean you are "fair" or "impartial." It means your audience knows how deep the pool is before they get in. Regardless, it's still water. Being fair implies stating the other person's argument, as ridiculous as it may be, and not immediately discrediting it. Being impartial means stating the facts, only the facts, and not throwing article after article of the same/similar opinions at the reader.
Technical inaccuracies? Okay, I can understand that you're a busy guy and maybe typographical errors go unnoticed (although grammar and style editing should be a MAJOR part of letting an article be published on a website) but... TECHNICAL INACCURACIES?
I don't care how pretty you make that sound, it still means the same damn thing. Wrong. Incorrect. You've exposed your bias AND you've said you could be wrong. Why should anyone feel comfortable reading this? You've admitting that you're a) only looking for material to publish that will support your viewpoint, b) not proofreading the material to the degree it should be before publishing it on your website, and c) attempting to change the minds of the people it is written for.
I'm halfway through college, and I have to say, with all the classes I've taken, I wouldn't take this seriously. Even if it were a liberal site. I intended on writing about a couple of the articles I read on it, but now I'm just so annoyed with the low standard of journalistic principles that I can't stand to waste time on writing about their articles. And THESE are the kinds of people that get pissed off at the media, calling us biased and unfair and all that jazz.
At least we try to write as moderately as possible, being fair and balanced, using sources that not only portray our side, but the opposite as well, and we PROOFREAD OUR MATERIAL. Copy editing? Great job. Hard work, but great job.
I'm not saying everything has to be completely without bias... you wanna make a website to support your beliefs, go for it. But don't say you're objective when you're not. And most important of all: don't quote inaccurate information. There's enough misinformation out there already.