Just the facts
THE major mainstream media, including this paper, have adopted a misshapen view of what Tim Rutten advocates, rightly, as nonpartisan journalism on the noneditorial pages [“Will Newspapers Keep Their Soul?,” Aug. 11].
It is not nonpartisan to simply quote two sides of an argument for your readers if one side is backed up by facts and the other side is spinning, twisting, omitting and deceiving. Far too often, front page reporting in the Bush era has succumbed to presenting he-said, she-said as if the only job of journalism was to cite claims and thereby be above the fray.
No. When you fail to include in basic reporting the degree to which those claims are supportable or not, then by default you are serving the partisan interests of the side you failed to illuminate for your reader with contrary facts.
Carolyn Taylor
Los Angeles
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