Every single one of us has bias. It’s human nature. We are predisposed to seek out things that affirm and align with our views on the world.
Even newspapers aren’t immune to this, being compiled by human hands. Even the Quill.
I take a great deal of pride in asking the hard questions — the ones I don’t personally want to ask because it might challenge my understanding of a situation. But my job isn’t to affirm my understanding. My job is to give you, the reader, the tools to understand for yourself.
This means gathering facts and presenting them, asking the questions I know you must be asking, plus a few more, and drawing connections where relevant.
The cardinal rule of journalism is to keep yourself out of the story. The story is not about the person writing it, it is not about the writer’s opinions or views. The story is neutral.
I am proud of the job I’ve done to that effect. I’ve won awards for it, which is great, but what means even more to me is the impression my writing makes on readers. I have people of all political stripes approach me on the street to thank me for my unbiased presentation of sensitive news, and that is a feather I will proudly put in my cap over and over again.
To hear folks tell it on social media, though, I have quite the agenda. More than once, a commenter on Facebook has accused the Quill of being a liberal publication. Well, I took some time today to do some reflection. And what I found surprised me, and I think it might surprise you, too.
I used Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 9th edition, which was published in 1985 during the Reagan era, to find the definition of conservative. The conservative ideology pertains to “a political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, stressing established institutions and preferring gradual development to change.”
Then I looked up the definition for liberal, and found an association with “a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of man and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties.”
Quick confession time: I identify with both philosophies. They both make sense to me. I don’t know what that tells you, but — well, no, let’s look deeper.
I looked at the last two print editions of the Quill. Omitting submitted columns and Records page information, I found that all told, 70% of the Quill’s content met the definition for “conservative,” and 81% for “liberal.”
Hold on! Before you get too excited and say “I told you so,” it occurred to me that one of those issues had a 12 page Progress section. Since the word “progress” is literally in the definition for liberal, and a hefty portion of those stories were based on new and innovative ideas and programs, as opposed to those steeped in tradition, I decided to look again, leaving that section out.
This is the part that surprised me: The conservative-associated stories did drop by 5%, but the liberal-associated stories dropped by 6%. But the difference between those numbers — 65% and 75% — tells us more. That difference was accomplished through six singular stories: three about governmental and institutional transparency and accountability, and three about athletic progress.
If that’s bias on our end, I guess I’ll have to own it. Transparency and accountability are literally in our job description.
Having said all this, I need readers to understand: When you demand your local newspaper to stop covering any kind of local news because you don’t agree with the topic, you’re setting a dangerous precedent.
A newspaper’s job is to tell about everything happening within a community. Its job is not to weigh in on whether such happenings should or should not occur, nor is it to report only the things readers want to read.
If we were to limit our coverage to that which readers want to read, much would get lost because there are plenty of topics readers tire of quickly, but they are still happening.
Besides, which readers are we obliging, and how do we determine that? Because I tell you, some of those stories you personally don’t like are the ones that get the most clicks, the most positive feedback, and the most results.
Quill subscriptions have gone up 26% since January and continue to climb. Individual visitors to our website have gone up 23% since December. We have a bulletin board in our office filled with expressions of gratitude and kudos from our readers. Readership is growing.
I guess we must be doing something right.
