Hmmm...

An article can be tinged with bias just by using a single word with a noted connotation.
It kinda makes me think about all the times I read an article and understood the bias, but never did anything about it.

A blatant example that comes to mind is the "terror mosque". these days the talk of the nation is the "terror mosque" supposedly being built on Ground Zero. Fox 'news' network started calling the religious community center by this nickname, showing their fear fostering bias. Their facts were also cherry-picked because the community center is actually being built a block to a few blocks away.

Isn't it insane that the most watched news network is basically flinging dung at the Muslim populous? What people would do for ratings!

So like I said before, it makes me sad to think about the amount of people who watch this network and do not think twice about the bias.

What it's all about pt. 2

“Some people say stories about minority communities often sound like visits to the zoo: "Oh, look at all the animals and the funny things they do!" Do you agree? If so, how can we prevent that?”

All genres of articles can be accused of not going deep enough. I think ethnic or cultural reporting is a genre that should not be slighted.
Ethnic reporting is a genre that is more affected by slight than any other because the groundwork for human success is to be able to work together. Articles on minority communities have opportunities to break down barriers than a lecture or a PSA announcement. Articles tell stories of real people. I believe there is still a majority if the U.S. population that believes in newspapers enough to trust that what they report is true.

If an article on immigration simply quotes that AZ congressman who said illegal immigrants “multiply like rats” to produce “anchor babies”, using him as an “expert”, the article does a huge injustice to that population because media is their only voice.

The best way to prevent this from happening is to adhere to a strict standard for news stories. The article must quote as many (or even more) regular people or people who are affected by the situation as it does experts. That is something we really don’t see enough because journalists struggle to maintain credibility and they assume the public will trust a seemingly educated and reputable source more than a real person who might not give an intellectual sounding quote.

"What it's all about" part 1

“Do you have to be one to cover one? Should editors assign reporters of the same ethnicity or background as their subjects? Is it better, worse or does it even matter?”

I think editors should know their reporters well enough to know what communities they could handle covering.

Based on the story I heard about Professor Reisner’s mistaking “the gifts” for presents in an article about the nativity story, I believe the editor should have made a better judgment call. If an editor knowingly sends a Jewish reporter to cover something as religious as the nativity story, it’s their job to ensure the reporter doesn’t make a mistake because he simply didn’t know better.

I know that there are Jewish people who have a lot of knowledge of other religions. Thus, I definitely believe you can send a person of any culture to cover another culture as long as that person knows about the other culture that the editor is sending them to cover.

Thoughts on class pt. 3

Everyone is finally settled in with their listening posts and the discussions are moving along more smoothly.
Soraya is still my saving grace because as long as she entertains us with personal accounts of inter-racial/inter-cultural dating then the rest of us can sit calmly and enjoy the class period without having to share anything about our own listening posts.

Let me explain the whole "inter-racial/inter-cultural" thing. Soraya is a black girl who doesn't have a hang up about being "genuinely black" nor does she have a hang up about being "too black". She doesn't see her color as something that limits her to any role. The reason color plays a non-existant role for this particular intelligent young woman is because she is culturally mixed. She has lived amidst Hispanics and upper-class white people for different parts of her life which gives her perspective on their cultures and that perspective is what defines her to any "role". That perspective allows her to date a down-to-earth white guy just as easily as a down-to-earth black guy and it is also what makes it impossible for her to date a black guy or a white guy who have cultural hang ups. One description she gave was that she must have a big ass and dance well. I really was amused hearing the story of her date that ended when the boy expected such another woman to come out of this girl!