I'm reading an article on voting systems in The New Yorker, and it reminded me of a conversation I had with a colleague about the 2000 presidential election.
The colleague, a Republican teacher from San Antonio, said that no independent recount showed that Al Gore would have won Florida. When he said this, I initially believed it could not be true, but as I had nothing to back up my opinion, I didn't say anything.
Cut to today. The article reminds me of the conversation, so I begin poking around on the internet. One of the first things I see is a transcript from PBS's Newshour which states that, had the Supreme Court not stopped the recount, Bush still would have won.
I was struck by this, I guess because I expected some pro-Gore propaganda. We all know PBS leans left, but this article didn't show that. Instead, it reported the news with what appeared to be objectivity. I trust Newshour, but I trust it more now that I know it reports information that might be against its politics--it reports news that it might be disappointed to report.
I wish Fox "News" would do the same.
1 comment:
Why is it shocking that reporters "report" the facts? I should be shocked that they, as you allude, don't always report the facts, but I'm not. Why would you trust them more knowing that it was hard for them to report the truth? Fox occasionally reports the truth, but they aren't PBS, they are a major company... and as everybody knows they don't just "lean" right, as everybody knows PBS doesn't just "lean" left. I find this "discouraging", not "encouraging".
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