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December 10, 2005
"Facts Plus Context Equal Truth"
Tim Rutten writing in the Los Angeles Times tells us 'facts plus context equal truth." Now I'm not sure that is a good enough definition of truth for philosophers but it sure is for the news media. Rutten's piece is called, "Rice and the press make it unclear." In it he explains how the press, in reporting the Secretary of State's efforts to explain away what is a change of policy on torture failed to put her remarks in context. Specifically in the context of the
- Administration's redefining torture as defined in the Convention Against Torture ratified by the Senate in 1990.
- Administration's own belief that information provided by Khalid Sheik Mohammed under torture cannot be used in court.
- Use of "extraordinary rendition" by U.S. intelligence agents to deliver people to countries where they do not considered torture evil.
- United State's clandestine CIA prisons in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, where suspected terrorists are tortured.
Rutten thinks the press needs to provide this context whenever they report a message like the one Rice tried to give in Europe.
Rutten is correct. A journalist needs not go beyond the facts in setting the remarks of our leaders in context. On the specific issue of torture, Rutten puts his conclusion in the middle of the piece.
Had all these facts and voices of rational authority — like Sofaer's — been made part of the day-to-day reporting on Rice's tour, all her deliberate ambiguity would have come into focus for what it was: a convoluted defense of the indefensible.
On the more general issue of how the news is reported he correctly say,
Finally, a useful journalism recognizes that the world was not created afresh each day — that history does, in fact, exist and matter. But, apart from its editorial pages, that journalism restrains itself from reaching conclusions, making it possible for its readers, viewers and listeners to draw rational ones for themselves. (Those who tried to follow most of this week's coverage of Rice's European tour would have been hard-pressed to do that.)Insisting that people have a right to demand that their news media tell them what they need to know to reach the conclusions that make responsible citizenship possible is a sturdy, old-fashioned sort of notion, kind of a traditional values thing.
Yep!
Posted by Duane Smith at December 10, 2005 9:13 AM | Read more on Current Events |
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Comments
I'm not particularly religious but "Amen, Brother, Amen"
Posted by: afarensis at December 11, 2005 8:03 AM
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