August 6, 2005 @ 7:25 am
In yesterday’s column in the NY Times Paul Krugman neatly fingered one of the great faults of modern reporting. The column was about the debate over intelligent design and whether reporters or readers knew the difference between real science and fake science.
"Even when reporters do know the difference, the conventions of he-said-she-said journalism get in the way of conveying that knowledge to readers. I once joked that if President Bush said that the Earth was flat, the headlines of news articles would read, "Opinions Differ on Shape of the Earth." The headlines on many articles about the intelligent design controversy come pretty close."
The "two attribution rule" is exactly what’s wrong with modern journalism. It’s not enough to tell two…or three…sides of a story. Some attempt should be made to find out which side is right.
