Scott Kaufman: They then discussed the notion of “fair and balanced” reporting, with O’Brien recounting an occasion in which he brought his producers a story that 95 percent of the scientific community agreed on. “Is it fair in a story about climate change,” O’Brien said, “which is clearly what I’m talking about, to do this journalistic convention of equal time for both sides. This is a huge mistake for journalism.” Tyson agreed, saying that the conventional solution means that you get “one person to represent that 5 percent, but then he gets 50 percent of your time.” “Is that serving the truth?” O’Brien asked. “As a matter of fact, that is feeding obfuscation — perpetuating a myth, dare I say, a lie.”
Posted on: Tue, 20 May 2014 08:53:21 +0000