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September 28, 2004
Dan's great teaching moment...
From a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll of 1,006 adults released Monday:
56% said that Rather and CBS had made an honest mistake--perhaps because of "carelessness in their fact-checking and reporting." Asked if CBS News should fire Rather, 64% said no.
Are Americans media literate? I don't think there's a simple answer to that question. This poll result suggests to me that more citizens need to read The Elements of Journalism. The honesty of Rather's mistake ("Rather" has become a synecdoche for CBS News) in political terms is certainly debatable. But his honesty in terms of professional practice is certainly not. The discipline of verification is the stuff of Journalism 101. Rather failed to adequately verify his information. Are we really talking carelessness here? Or arrogance? Or blind professional competitiveness? Or something else?
I wonder how these poll results might have changed if the 1,006 adults understood this to the same extent that my students now do (thanks to Dan!).
Posted by acline at September 28, 2004 8:35 AM | | Spotlight