Responsible citizenship
My local news station has frequently followed my suggestions for news stories, and I am writing to encourage you do the same.
We need to remind those who give us news that their job requires them to investigate the stories, vet them, and then tell us the whole story without bias. Our reporters are essential to defending our democracy, and they need help realizing how important they are.
Today, only 1 out of 5 supports Trump taking Greenland for security reasons. We need to reduce that number, and the way to do that is be sure everyone knows that at the start of the Cold War, the US made an agreement with Greenland and established a base there, defending all the countries that are part of NATO. There is no need for us to take Greenland away from Denmark. Not with the already established united effort to defend the allies and the US military presence that is already there.
Please, encourage your local reporters to investigate, vet, and present the whole story. No argument necessary. Just better information.
We need to remind those who give us news that their job requires them to investigate the stories, vet them, and then tell us the whole story without bias. Our reporters are essential to defending our democracy, and they need help realizing how important they are.
Today, only 1 out of 5 supports Trump taking Greenland for security reasons. We need to reduce that number, and the way to do that is be sure everyone knows that at the start of the Cold War, the US made an agreement with Greenland and established a base there, defending all the countries that are part of NATO. There is no need for us to take Greenland away from Denmark. Not with the already established united effort to defend the allies and the US military presence that is already there.
Please, encourage your local reporters to investigate, vet, and present the whole story. No argument necessary. Just better information.
Comments (10)
Quoting Athena
I guess I’ve never entirely subscribed to the view that there is a truth which mirrors nature, or a position on an event that is without bias. I agree that stories are often slanted in particular directions and that they might suit a particular narrative, but I recognise that my version of a given story or event does the same thing. Because it reflects my values, I tend to think of it as “more truthful”.
What I want from the media are stories that reflect complexity and, as you say, something like a 'whole story', with context and a sense of balance. But one problem with journalism is that the public enjoys outrage and clickbait. I’m not sure there’s much money in balance. While I don’t think we can remove bias, I think we can do better by providing more sophisticated, less sensationalised accounts of events.