Volume 5, number 4, May 2003 It's All About Patterns In the previous two issues of this publication I have offered criticism of the news media in Fairbanks. Our local daily newspaper bore the attention in both columns, first for lackluster political reporting and then for an erroneous and biased headline. Though it may be fun to piously needle the local media for the occasional misstep, there is a larger issue here which speaks to the way we get our information. Or don’t. If you watch a single TV news broadcast, or pick up a single edition of the local newspaper, it may be difficult to find evidence of bias or sloppy reporting. And following my previous columns, some have questioned the value of quibbling over seemingly minor points such as erroneous headlines. The intent of this critic is to demonstrate patterns in local news coverage. These patterns inform the extent to which the media either serves or fails the public interest. For example, consider the semi-regular news coverage of the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce weekly luncheons. Each Tuesday, Chamber members gather to press the flesh and hear a keynote speaker, often a noted public official, business leader, or some other individual of great influence. Our local TV and print news outlets dutifully report the remarks of the speaker, and perhaps a reaction or two from some Chamber members in attendance. This type of coverage is warranted because the keynote speaker, say the governor or borough mayor, is saying something of importance to the community. What these people say is news. But reporters are not serving the public interest when they fail to provide alternate opinions from those who do not have access to the Chamber’s dais, say the poor or the jobless. By only reporting the perspectives of the powerful and influential, reporters cease to be journalists and instead edge into the realm of public relations. They become mouthpieces for those in power, who subsequently assert tremendous control over the information the public receives. Imagine if a reporter in Fairbanks attended weekly meetings of the local environmental groups, and dutifully reported their remarks verbatim. People would ask, Who’s running this paper? That reporter would stand accused of becoming personally invested in the issues, and be reassigned to produce fluff pieces on the Boy Scouts. But when a business reporter attends weekly Chamber luncheons, it’s called cultivating your sources. This dependence on official sources affects immeasurably the news we receive. Understaffed newsrooms rely heavily on soundbites and scraps of information that are cheap and easy to obtain; this translates to both an overdependence on official sources, and a near-total absence of in-depth coverage. Say you’re an overworked reporter who is required by your editor to file two stories by 6:00 p.m. It’s certainly much easier to simply attend the Chamber luncheon, where the speaker is already hooked up to a microphone, than it is to seek out dissenting opinions from those not so readily available. Official sources are every reporter’s bread and butter. They are easily reached any time of day, they are knowledgeable and can speak intelligently about the issue at hand, and they are often media savvy enough to provide readymade soundbites. Most important, however, official sources have instant credibility, which frees the reporter from having to provide context or background for their remarks. This is good for the reporter facing a deadline, not so good for a public thirsting for information. These are the patterns worth tracking in the local news media. One can see how a single news story on the Chamber of Commerce luncheon does not appear overly biased. After five or fifteen such stories, though, the pattern of slanted coverage emerges. And once you know what you’re looking for, even a single erroneous headline fits this pattern. Samuel Butler wrote, "The most important service rendered by the press and the magazines is that of educating people to approach printed matter with distrust." The recourse for the skeptical citizen? Never rely on only one news outlet, but gather your information from several different sources.
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