☆ 2024 takeaway #2: Local media is fragmenting—leading to more partisanship, less objectivity
Depicted: Pravda newspaper, a symbol of Soviet-era journalism and its impact on shaping public opinion
The rapid growth of online media has enabled many previously ignored perspectives (like ours!) to get noticed more. But—to many—it has diminished legacy journalistic standards of fairness and objectivity. We highlighted examples of transparently partisan local media throughout the year. An Opp Now exclusive.
As a website that champions free speech and free markets, we have a special interest in trying to elevate local political discourse—especially as trust in journalism continues to tank. (Sixty percent+ of Americans say they have low or no trust in media). Part of that means calling out the missteps of local media—especially when it comes to hyper-partisan and unfair coverage.
This last year, we highlighted a number of whoppers from local news journalists (and politicians trying to appeal to them) that roughly fall into the following categories:
Only listening to one side. Most news stories start with a reasonably straight-ahead statement of facts, a bit of context, and then—and this is where the fun starts—comments from experts or "influencers." As we've revealed, local media has a penchant for only getting comments from left-leaning nonprofits, liberal advocacy groups, and Labor-backed politicos—and treating with explicit derision opinions that run contrary to Left/Labor orthodoxy.
Repeating wild, hyper-partisan comments at face value. Some members of your Opp Now team have worked in corporate Media Relations, so we are keenly aware of how the sausage is made. One of the old-school tricks of spokespeople who are trying to influence media coverage is to make spicy, extreme statements in the hopes that their comments will get picked up for drama's sake, and that lazy journalists won't question the basis for the hyperbole.
Sadly, at least in Silicon Valley media, Old School is New School, as we saw many examples of baseless, extremist statements from Labor/Left pols getting accepted without question, at face value by echo-chamber journalists.
Cherrypicking facts, taking comments out of context. Saul Alinksy wrote a very famous guidebook for left-wing advocates back in the 1960s, in which he suggested (to paraphrase) that "the issue is not the issue, the issue is The Narrative." Which is a clever way of saying that specifics don't really matter, what matters is the overall thesis (the "framing" in mediaspeak) of a story—what conclusion it leads the reader to.
Key to this approach is for media outlets to cut-and-paste statements from alternative viewpoints, present them out of context, and thus create a negative aura around those alternate perspectives and effectively dismiss them. Note how this almost always takes place at the end of a news story, when The Narrative has been fully established.
Here's an anthology of top Opp Now stories about media analysis over the past year:
Perspectives: Ellenberg twists language, logic to defend County record: The Opp Now community analyzed misleading language in Supe Ellenberg’s State of the County address.
Fact check: SJ Spotlight op-ed misrepresents critique of Measure A: The Opp Now team refuted an illogical Spotlight op-ed about the city/county's failed Housing First strategy.
Merc covers RM4 story about biased ballot language with—get this—biased language of its own: The Merc tried defending BAHFA’s inaccurate RM4 ballot information in a biased story of its own.
"Justice-involved?" Language expert unpacks Supe Ellenberg's latest language contortions: Linguist Dr. Alan Perlman examined Supe Ellenberg’s use of “justice-involved” to describe people in her jail-diversion site.
Opinion: Why journalists should wear the philosopher's cloak more often: The Critique's Guillaume A.W. Attia reflected on why local news sites should embrace philosophy.
Our culture's dopamine-seeking “junkification” manifests in Silicon Valley news, too: NY Times’ David Brooks discussed the dangers of media posing as entertainment (instead of art), and how we can return to our “higher desires.”
Local experts dispute Ellenberg's confused Proposition 36 invective: Recovery Education Coalition’s Tom Wolf and CA District Attorneys Association’s Greg Totten critiqued Supe Ellenberg’s anti-Prop 36 accusations.
Proposition Doubleplusgood: SCC's Civil Grand Jury observed that ballot measures are regularly designed to “deceive” voters using manipulative language.
Opinion: Silicon Valley journalism needs to do a sharp 180, treat readers respectfully: Documentarian Michael Nayna argued that media should see its consumers as fellow thinkers (not profit machines or moldable clay).
{Editor's note: We must acknowledge that while local news outlets reliably tilt left, the San Jose Mercury News' editorial page has been a beacon of diverse, thoughtful, and fair-minded commentary on both national and local issues. In our humble opinion: they deserve all of our respect as they deliver a range of intelligent opinion.}
Opp Now enthusiastically welcomes smart, thoughtful, fair-minded, well-written comments from our readers. But be advised: we have zero interest in posting rants, ad hominems, poorly-argued screeds, transparently partisan yack, or the hateful name-calling often seen on other local websites. So if you've got a great idea that will add to the conversation, please send it in. If you're trolling or shilling for a candidate or initiative, forget it.