San Jose Mercury News Editorial Page Editor Steve Wright testified this week during a formal public hearing at the San Jose City Council meeting. He spoke in favor of proposals for a new law providing for more open government.
Is that appropriate for a newspaper editor?
I say yes, and so does Grade the News, a media research project that focuses on the quality of the news media in the San Francisco Bay Area. The project is based at San Jose State University's School of Journalism and Mass Communications and is affiliated with Stanford University’s Graduate Program in Journalism.
Posted by cmatthews at April 6, 2006 03:30 PM
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I commend your focus on journalistic ethics and agree about Steve Wright's testimony. In fact, I have tried to generate more support for his position from within San Jose organizations that I follow.
By extension, let me ask you this question. I see many new stories in a wide range of papers that define fair and balanced reporting as giving the right and left both a chance to insert a good quote. However, if one or both of those quotes does not make sense, maybe a politician sayying one thing but voting the opposite way, should the reporter just enter the quote, or should they call attention to the discrepancy? It happens all to frequently in too many newpapers: e.g. WSJ, NY Times, Washington Post down to local weeklies, that all they do is report the quote.
From Cheri: You're right, and this is a great topic for discussion. We do tend to call a story balanced if we've included quotes from both sides. And we probably don't look closely enough to see if what a person says matches what he/she does or votes. I think we should call attention to discrepancy.
Posted by: Wes Rolley at April 12, 2006 10:22 AM
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