Chapter 11 ABNW-Omitting is bad
Under the section Do not add, in ABNW talks about subtraction that distorts. By omitting information you have collected can be somewhat of a bias. It can mean that you as a jounrnalist are leaving out information that could balance a story. Unknowingly leaving it out to make the article sound better can be one thing, but leaving it out because you want the article to lean a certain way is subtracting from fairness, which is something we as the students in Newswriting have been practicing all semester.
We know adding non existent information is wrong but so is leaving out the pertinent info. It may not seem like it, but if we want to tell a side of a story, it will lean more towards our benefit or thoughts. Journalism can unfortunately turn out like that, knowing it or not.
Comments
Isn't it weird that leaving out certain bits of information can also be considered a bias? We never think of bias as saying too little- usually it involves saying a bit too much. It seems like we're always walking a fine line in journalism- don't say too much, don't say too little, don't be biased, but make sure you have the facts.
Posted by: Nessa | December 4, 2007 8:05 PM