I am behind on blogging, so I am making up for it with random thoughts from the past week or so....
Ever read the writings of the Strib columnist Katherine Kersten? As the story goes, she was brought in by the newspaper bosses to bring "balance" to the supposedly liberal leaning Strib. I am not sure if the Strib is very liberal leaning or in need of balancing, but that is another story. Here is what I find interesting. Kersten seems to pride herself on strong conservative values and views. So people were shocked by her apparent "extending a hand across the divide" column on Dec 20th, calling for a truce on the culture war over Christmas in her article, titled "Culture wars over Christmas -- how about a cease-fire?"
What I find so amazing about this article by Katherine Kersten is that is is wholly unoriginal! Of course, many people have made such a call or pleading over the years, so this is not my problem with her article. What makes this case somewhat unique (to me) is that she wrote her article just a couple of weeks after Nicholoas Kristof wrote his psuedo-plea (really an attack), titled "A Modest Proposal for a Truce on Religion" in the New York Times on December 3rd! Hm...notice the similar headlines? Truce? Cease-fire? And she conveniently fails to mention his article, although she cites many of the same storylines. To her credit though, she takes a slightly more modest stance than Kristoff who is more obnoxious. For rebuttals to Kristof, check out Harris and Dawkins reponses at Edge.
Hm....imagine if journalists had to cite their references to opinions and ideas, just as we are expected to do in academia. It would not only keep them more honest, but it would help to better educate the readership and allow the readers to develop stronger critical thinking skills (rather than rely on the hot air of columnists alone). One advantage to the web (vs print) is that it gives readers the chance to search out these references and get a truly more balanced viewpoint. Of course, this approach requires more legwork on the readership which is why people subscribe to newspapers (and watch television news) to begin (i.e., to avoid legwork and the ease of convenience). Maybe something like NewsTrust is a compromise.
Posted by richlee at December 30, 2006 07:52 AM