Poor journalism

Perhaps I misunderstand the purpose of the IDS and the aspirations of the Opinion section. I believed the IDS was to provide an environment for aspiring journalists to practice the trade while providing facts and news to the community. I thought the point of the Opinion section was to provide informational analysis of current events.
I must have been mistaken.

The full page ‘Palin vs. The Press’ (Sept. 17) not only fell short of those expectations – it was nothing short of a disgrace.

Having four separate but ideologically similar columnists analyze the interview demonstrates an unprofessionally blatant bias. Beyond that, responding to her answers with sarcastic, snide quips is nothing more than tabloid journalism. Do the standards of IU journalism endorse quoting actors’ political views as intelligent analysis of something as important as a Presidential election?

Then there is the issue of facts. I have not the space here to address all of them, but let me say that I saw only one response that actually had any facts in it. The rest were merely attempts at humor that were resigned to arrogant assumptions of ignorance on Palin’s part professed by those against her. Jumping on partisan bandwagon claims does not an independent thinker make.

One complaint against her is especially bitter:

There have been at least four “Bush Doctrines” (by the way, a media nomenclature):
1. “Unilateralism” – pre-9/11 (withdrawal from the ABM treaty, Kyoto, etc.)

2. “Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists” – in the immediate post-9/11 period.

3. Anticipatory self-defense, or pre-emptive war – in the run-up to the Iraq war

4. To spread democracy/freedom/liberty throughout the world to make America safer – the current “Bush Doctrine.”

Gibson picked the third without specifying. Palin wanted clarification. To then attack her prudence as naivete is the explicit definition of bias and partisanship.

Seeing this page was offensive to me, not because it attacked Palin – that’s politics. But because my school’s paper seemed to have been reduced to a high school gossip rag.

Ryan Roland
IU alumnus