When opinion becomes fact

Mark Twain said, "Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please."

This quote is so relevant in todays political climate and 24 hour news cycle.

As a reporter, I'm realizing many of my sources read the opinion page of our newspaper more than they read the news .... so, I begin this blog/rant with the following question:

How can you possibly forme an educated opinion on anything if all you read is other people's opinions rather than the facts?

You can't.

The end.

But with the creation of 24 hour news networks like CNN and Fox, etc., it's become hard for viewers to pick apart which show is NEWS, and which show is COMMENTARY. And with things like the Google or Yahoo! news feeds that bundle all their news stories together, some readers are also confused because it mixes the actual news stories with the op/ed (opinion) pieces. 

The TV news networks "try" and differentiate their programs but only with time slots, never with a disclaimer that says, "What you're about to hear is total bullocks and you should take everything you hear with a grain of salt, because its the opinion of one individual, and we give money to politicians."

The news websites try and put "Opinion" or "Editorial" above those editoral opinion pieces, but now that we're supposed to be writing for someone with a third-grade education (it used to be eighth-grade) its safe to say they probably skim right past those headers. (Plus, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking those with a third grade reading level probably don't even understand the concept of an editorial ... no wonder they're confused ... and yet we have politicians still trying to slash funding for education?!"

Print newspapers, well we divide the paper up in visible sections so there's NO WAY (we think) people could be confused about what's news and what's the opinion of our insanely conservative editor/publisher.

But, I'm seeing time and time again, at every local government meeting I attend, that those in public office and in the general public, can't and don't differentiate the two, which is a more than problematic.

I hear letters to the editor called "articles" CONSTANTLY and those in the public blame me, the reporter, for the ignorant, uneducated response of one person that we had to run in the OP/ED section.

Then there are the actual editorials written by our editor/publisher. Most people don't say anything to me about that, but again, they call it an "article," it is not, it is an EDITORIAL - ONE MAN'S OPINION.

Then, our sister paper insists on doing this stupid "article" called "Public Record" which is the paper trying to stir the pot and it pisses me off to NO END. It's an opinion, speculation piece, disguised as a news story.

Just the other day I learned this sister paper used an ANONYMOUS source (which we never use unless its absolutely crucial and a huge story) to trash talk the survey process of one of the towns I cover and insinuated there was ballot stuffing, no controls in place, etc. IT WAS ALL SPECULATION. But it was blatantly written under the guise of an article, and the editor didn't even have the balls to put his byline on it. He just wrote "staff report."

At a meeting earlier this week that "article" caused a shitstorm with commissioners attacking each other, getting upset with the clerk, getting upset at the town administrator, all because "that article" had been written.

"It was a stab in the back," the town administrator told me.

Misinformation is a huge problem when it comes to commentary and opinion pieces, (and looking at our political landscape today, it's clear this misinformation has cuased a ridiculous amount of problems) and it should not EVER be the media's prerogative to misinform the public in the name of ruffling feathers and creating news where there's none to create.

This sister paper's editor called me to "explain" his stance on the matter and he said "well there was ballot stuffing," he said, "how do you know," I countered, "they had copies of the survey at town hall for anyone to pickup, they could've picked up a stack if they wanted," he said, "But did they, did anyone see this being done, or say it had been done prior to now?"

He didn't have an answer.

And let me remind you all, its just a fucking survey. It's not a ballot. It makes no actual difference in anything. The town commissioners and employees just wan't feedback. It's not a big deal.

But this is the problem these days, people causing a fuss over nothing because they're misinformed. They're quick to go on someones poorly formed opinion and too lazy to research the facts and get to the truth.

A sign on a church on my way to work has a quote similar to this one by Aldous Huxley (which is kind of ironic, but whatever): "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."

And that's what's happening. It's easier to ignore the facts, so people go on other's opinion of the facts, without learning about the facts for themselves.

This, I believe, is the only reason anyone vote Republican anymore. They're just confused. (haha!)

But this whole opinion vs. news, fact vs. fiction thing and the confusion of the average reader and their inability to watch, read or listen to the news as it was intended is tragic to me, a reporter, who for her whole college career was driven by the idea of being a watchdog for the community, the eyes and ears in meetings where the public didn't feel they could be, and the one who goes out and finds all the cool stuff happening in their community, so they too can enjoy it.

All of that good stuff is being overlooked, because its much easier to form an opinion about something you know nothing about, than it is to take the time to read up and figure shit out for yourself.

It's just sad.

All that said, I will leave you know with another great quote, this one from John Dewey, "We can have facts without thinking but we cannot have thinking without facts."