Rigoberto CampbellNov 28, 2022
Jay Rosen

See the attachment for Josh Marshall's apt description of "both sides" journalism.

As I've said before, "both sides" is not primarily a truth-seeking practice, but a refuge-seeking one.

"Press bias avoidance" as Josh calls it, is not about depicting what happened. Not in the main, I mean. Rather it's a pre-response by journalists to criticisms they have anticipated or internalized.

@joshtpm

#journalism #bothsides #journalists #mediabias

Nov 27, 2022 at 11:50pmWeb
Show threadJose MarichalNov 27, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm well said.. seems to suggests journalists only job is to collect interpretations of events and not use their own cognitive and perceptual apparatus to interpret events and evaluate claims between different interpretations of events
Show threadCarynNov 27, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm and imho, for a long time the GOP has known and utilized this bias. It’s not like a moral switch flipped after 11/8. They are using the system yet again.
Show threadtmcgeeNov 28, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm
This really got going with the 'Rather Bias' attacks on Dan Rather in the '80s. But I'm sure it was a thing before that. Contemporary journalism seems to luxuriate in it.
Show threadAndy OlsenNov 28, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm

Right. It's inaccurate journalism and it misleads people with a very warped version of reality.

Show threadRuami GreyNov 28, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm

IMO the commitment to pursue "bothsides" no matter what is itself a form of bias. And it is more about the journalist/publication focusing on controlling their image (and therefore, in a sense, making the story about themselves: "look at us! look how fair we are!") than it is about the journalist/publication focusing on authentic reporting.

Show thread5klp471Nov 28, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm A huge part of the problem is that 'news' and 'journalism' is now seen as a form of PROFIT MAKING entertainment. the job seems to be to ENTERTAIN more than anything else while advertising dollars roll in. The truth? There's no money in telling the truth.
Show threadSuzyNov 28, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm

'Both sides' is a gimmick used to make assigning blame seem unreasonable/unnecessary.
With white men perpetually in charge of everything, they're in dire perpetual need of maneuvers to evade (otherwise naturally devolving) responsibility.

Show threadPushkaNov 28, 2022
this is such bs because it did NOT start with the insurrection or the "big lie". People are forgetting where that young woman was murdered by the white supremacist in North Caroline. Wrong is wrong .. there is no both sides unless you are justifying a wrong action. All the "good Germans" in 1935 might need to be addressed. There's not a both sides to hate you either stand up to it or you become part of the problem. Lazy journalism is what I see.
Show threadF.U. 🅭…Nov 28, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm
There's another media framework that's arguably even worse: falsely manufacturing consensus when there really are multiple sides to a story but one side is presented from multiple viewpoints as if "all sides" are agreeing.
Like when @nytimes quotes a cop, a prosecutor, a politician, an academic, and "6 guys in a diner" who all agree with NYT Co's preferred viewpoint, pretending that other views (including inconvenient facts) don't even exist.
Show threadmsdismeNov 28, 2022
@frankie @jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm or any time the #nytimes reports about transgender issues, or guns based massacres in Texas.
Show threadRep. Steven WoodrowNov 28, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm the Right has worked the Refs for decades. Is there really a moment when a journalist says internally, “Gee, if I frame it this way a black Berkeley prof might get offended?” If so, it’s doubtful that voice is heard over the screaming sound of “Will this upset white conservatives in suburban Ohio??”
Show threadEdgeNov 28, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm

@[email protected] also does an excellent job of discussing this issue. He's a professor of history at Georgetown. Well worth reading.

Show threadDanNov 28, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm "..Can simply focus on what happened." In actual practice, how often is that a thing anymore? I can't reall the last thing that wasn't spun into a minimum of two sides in order to generate viewership. Hell, after the previous administration, not even the weather is free from political analysis.

You called it a "refuge seeking one." Can you elaborate?

Show threadJay RosenNov 28, 2022

@kagehiru

Here's a link to read on "refuge-seeking vs. truth-seeking." And @joshtpm figures in it.

https://pressthink.org/2020/11/the-coming-confrontation-between-the-american-press-and-the-republican-party/#p16

The coming confrontation between the American press and the Republican Party - PressThink

The GOP is increasingly a minority party, or counter-majoritarian, as some political scientists put it. Its conflicts with honest journalism are structural.

PressThink
Show threadStephenMNov 28, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @[email protected]
If one side says that it is raining and the other side says then it is not, then the job of the journalist is not to simply report both sides. The job of the journalist to walk outside and see for themselves.
Show threadJay RosenNov 28, 2022
@stgm This quote is sent to me several times a week.
Show threadFred VorosNov 28, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm The right has perfected the art of working the refs.
Show threadVirginia HeffernanNov 28, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm Bruno Latour has nice insight into why “interest” is a better framework than “bias.” One thing the media might do is simply take less interest in, say, the twisted sophistry of election denial and intravenous bleach for Covid. We don’t give astrological accounts of world events, nor should we give hearings to other superstitions - because such things do not merit media interest.
Show threadJay RosenNov 28, 2022

@virginiaheffernan

Fair point, Virginia.

Show threadJason MittellNov 28, 2022
@virginiaheffernan Do you have a reference for that Latour? Not seen his take on this before
Show threadVirginia HeffernanNov 28, 2022

@jmittell Adam Tooze mentioned it recent in a reflection on Latour, his mentor, who recently died. I suspect it’s from We We’re Never Modern, but will check

The idea of having interest—as in, a stake, a creditor’s position, a possibility of profit—in something is also central to the thinking of my own mentor, Marc Shell, who writes about art and money

Show threadVirginia HeffernanNov 28, 2022
@jmittell *Were
Show threadShawn Smith PeirceNov 28, 2022

@virginiaheffernan @jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm But "interest" lets too many off the hook, Virginia.

If the term is "bias," many in media who should pay attention and change their actions, will.

If the term used is "interest," many of those same people will blow it off and say "That doesn't apply to me."

As we all know, knowing one's audience is key. "Interest" might be a more fair framework, but it's less likely to get the job done.

Show threadAvedonNov 28, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm But... I thought saying nothing and letting the right-wing control the discourse was mostly what the Democrats do anyway, isn't it? And, as Atrios has pointed out, the press really only "both sides" one side.
Show threadDenial 🐔 ShownNov 28, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm this is great analysis! Thank you.

I'm sure the visually impaired would value it too if the alt text on the image was added to improve accessibility.

Show threadnoonanNov 28, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm

I'm not so sure it's even due to some preemptive attempt to quell criticism.

There are lots of great journalists out there today but there are so many stories going unreported or getting very little attention.

I think horse race journalism takes the focus away from doing reporting that depicts what happened. A lot of the "what happened" part is not even getting reported.

Show threadnoonanNov 28, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm

See I tend to think the opposite happens. If the Republican side just won't talk about something then the story won't get coverage. The press doesn't gain permission to cover what happened. It's more likely the press avoids the issue almost entirely in part because it doesn't fit into the horse race narrative news orgs sell because then there aren't two sides to report.

Show threadRadicalWoman111Nov 28, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm
Journalists and their editors are paid to be biased. They know it. We know it. We have to stop clicking click bait and subscribing.

Support local newspapers and independent news sources.

Show threadDear FriendNov 28, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm
Corporate cable is an addiction. Unfit, unqualified, inept, and probably malicious.
Show threadShield MaidenNov 28, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu It's wanting your bread buttered on both side and round the edges too, by someone else just so that no teensy weensy bit of bread can complain it's not been buttered.
Show threadDavid A. DuttonNov 28, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm in a perfect world, the press should just be reporting facts and keep their opinions to themselves
Show threadDennis JernbergDec 1, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm "Both-sides-ism" has long struck me as moral evasion and the essence of #MSMFail.
Show threadAntonella FoderaroDec 5, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm I found this paper about bothsiderism enlightening! https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35035084/
Bothsiderism - PubMed

This paper offers an account of a fallacy we will call <i>bothsiderism</i>, which is to mistake disagreement on an issue for evidence that either a compromise on, suspension of judgment regarding, or continued discussion of the issue is in order. Our view is that this is a fallacy of a unique and he …

PubMed
Show threadRon DeSantis's BDEDec 20, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu @joshtpm

"This may sound reductive and cookie-cutterish" without following up with how it's not is some grade-A prevaricating.