{"id":5572,"date":"2014-05-15T19:04:55","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T19:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/?p=5572"},"modified":"2014-05-15T19:04:55","modified_gmt":"2014-05-15T19:04:55","slug":"show-me-some-bias-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=5572","title":{"rendered":"Show me some bias, too"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Critics of my work over the years have accused me of many things, called me many bad names.<\/p>\n

I’ve been called inaccurate, misinformed, misguided, lazy, arrogant, elitist … all kinds of pejorative terms. I take that criticism seriously.<\/p>\n

The one label I refuse to take seriously is “biased.” Yes, I’ve been called that as well.<\/p>\n

Since leaving the world of daily print journalism in August 2012, I’ve continued to spew my thoughts into the blogosphere with this blog. I tell friends, acquaintances and family members the same thing: I am having so much fun that if I were any better I’d be twins.<\/p>\n

Some of the recipients of my blog have deigned to accuse me of bias.<\/p>\n

Such an interesting word, don’t you think? The dictionary describes it this way: “a preference or inclination that inhibits impartiality; prejudice.”<\/p>\n

Why is that a non-serious criticism? Because we all have it.<\/p>\n

The problem with bias is that we don’t see it in ourselves as readily as we see it in others, particularly those who espouse views at odds with our own.<\/p>\n

“Oh, you’re so damn biased,” people will tell me. Oh, really? How do you know that? “Because you’ve got it all wrong on this particular issue.” And you’ve got it right? Does that make your view, well, unbiased?<\/p>\n

We have it all contained within ourselves. The bias we see in others infects us as well. We might have precisely same type of bias, but we have.<\/p>\n

I have it. I’ve been known to admit freely. I recognize it in commentators I watch on TV or hear on the radio. Yes, even those with whom I agree. It’s just that when I hear bias from sources with whom I share a particular view it doesn’t seem as grating as it does when I read or hear something from those with whom I disagree.<\/p>\n

I continue to subscribe to the notion put forth many years ago by the late, great David Brinkley, who once said objectivity in journalism is an impossible goal. The best a journalist can hope to be, he said, is “fair.” That means you give credence to what all sides are saying in a debate or discussion. Opinion journalists then can draw their own conclusions, but only after they’ve given fair consideration to what the folks on the other side have to say.<\/p>\n

When someone throws out the “you’re biased<\/em>” canard, think of what Jesus said in John’s Gospel to those who wanted to stone an adulteress: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone …”<\/p>\n\n

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Critics of my work over the years have accused me of many things, called me many bad names. I’ve been called inaccurate, misinformed, misguided, lazy, arrogant, elitist … all kinds of pejorative terms. I take that criticism seriously. The one label I refuse to take seriously is “biased.” Yes, I’ve been called that as well. … Continue reading Show me some bias, too<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[608,1271,1970,2459,2587],"class_list":["post-5572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bias","tag-david-brinkley","tag-gospel-of-john","tag-jesus-christ","tag-journalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}