I’ve got to say, out of all the Bloggers out there Andy Updegrove is definately earning my respect. He clearly gets to the point of the matter without pussyfooting around.
To wit, why journalists insist on presenting “two sides” and think this is “objective”. Let me illustrate.
If I say “The moon is made of cheese!” and you say “The moon is made of minerals and trace elements!” we would be making two opposed statements. With the way things are going, a “journalist” would then present this issue as being two opposing opinions of the moons content, not as a bold and obvious lie and the truth, which is so painfully the case.
Andy points out exactly what is wrong with the ODF vs Microsoft XML document format press releases. Essentially, journalists are doing the same thing as with our moon example. They feel the need to present obvious falsehoods as a shade of the truth because they’re under the hairbrained notion that this is somehow objective.
My two cents, of course, would be that if you’re a journo worth your salt, you investigate then present one side. The Truth. Even if you’re not 100% right, your closer than either side of an argument would be. And hey, every once in a while, one of the sides is actually right.
Remember kids, in a document standard there’s not too much leeway for any kind of misunderstanding. If you get your story utterly wrong, it just paints you as an idiot.
Consortiuminfo.org - A Tale of Two Press Releases: Big Lies and Objective Journalism
