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OPINION: Poor journalism produces poor responsesJun 04, 2009 (Cleburne Times-Review - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Like most of you, I have friends who send me spam e-mail they believe doesn't really deserve the description. I received one of those last week that set me to ranting around the house, a happening my wife frequently must endure. My friend had sent along an e-newsletter from one of my least favorite Christian watchdogs. I won't mention the man's name, but he made my bad list a couple of decades ago by distorting facts to make his point that the world in general, and America in particular, was going to perdition in a handbasket. I'm not sure I much disagree with him, but plenty of evidence exists to prove it without taking events out of their context or omitting salient points the way he often does. The latest bit of evidence he passed along concerned a story about a California pastor who holds a weekly Bible study in his home who claimed that a county employee asked him inappropriate questions about the activity, which led to a threat of a fine for violating the area's land use policies. Naturally a link was provided to a story so we could read for ourselves how horrible the situation was, what a travesty of justice was being perpetrated, and how badly the First Amendment was being trampled. The story set off my rant. It was on a television news site, and the entire story consisted of the pastor's lawyer saying that the pastor and his wife told him that the county worker said the obnoxious things. Get that? He said that they said that he said. Now where I come from, that's not reporting. That's gossip. On the basis of that gossip, judging from what I later read on a variety of Internet sites, Christians across the country threw themselves into a tizzy. Rights are being violated! Christians are being persecuted! Rage against the injustice! The newsletter's author went on to claim that the only criteria being used here was an antireligious one, and no other gathering would have come in for such treatment, not that any evidence was given to support the contention. In this case, though, someone complained about the number of cars parked at the house. The county says the worker was trying to determine what was going on in the house so he could make a proper judgment about what ordinances apply. That could be a convenient excuse on the county's part, but it could be true. We only have one side of the conversation. In any case, I doubt the pastor ever contacted the appropriate authorities when he started the study to see if what he intended to do would run afoul of zoning laws or cause traffic disruptions or safety issues. But I don't know for sure because none of the reporting I've seen seems to have asked the question. Television news, I'm sorry to say, produces some of the worst reporting I've seen. A potentially controversial story will draw attention from a station, and you see a story like this one -- only one source, the one most concerned about seeing the story air; information reported third and fourth hand, vital questions left unasked. This is poor news gathering, and media consumers should look carefully at these kinds of stories before jumping straight into a dither. Often times as a story unfolds, as this one did, consumers will find more to the story than originally reported. If they don't, they should reserve judgment about any evil intentions being reported. To jump on a story as poorly reported as this one was initially and spread it around the countryside is to repeat the error and, ultimately, to indulge in gossip. Michael O'Connor may be reached at [email protected]. You may comment on this or any article on our Web site, cleburnetimesreview.com. To see more of the Cleburne Times-Review or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.cleburnetimesreview.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, Cleburne Times-Review, Texas Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |