At a recent lecture at his alma mater, Georgetown University, former President Clinton aired a complaint previously heard from various press secretaries and communications directors. “If a policymaker is a political leader and is covered primarily by the political press, there is a craving that borders on addictive to have a story line,” Clinton said. “And then once people settle on the story line, there is a craving that borders on blindness to shoehorn every fact, every development, every thing that happens into the story line, even if it’s not the story.” …
Journalists have to be intellectually honest enough to not cherry-pick facts and arguments that support their story line, especially if there are plenty of other facts and circumstances that contradict it. Indeed, the omission of facts is one of the graver sins that takes place far too often on various cable political shows, as well on as the more ideological blogs and publications. These outlets include what fits into a story line or ideological point of view, ignoring other things that support an alternative conclusion. CONT.
Charlie Cook