Write to the Point Is it the media that's inaccurate, or what you believe that's challenged?

By JOHN McCALLUM

Editor

I have this fantasy. It started, oh, probably four or five years ago.

My fantasy is all media outlets, TV, cable, radio, print, united one day and stopped covering news. Only for a brief time, just long enough to illustrate what it would be like to be without news coverage.

Nothing about those sirens heard early yesterday morning. City council changing zoning requirements to allow adult bookstores closer to residential areas – nothing, but the city said on its website it's in the interest of economic development.

It's a fantasy, I know. But it would be intriguing to see what would happen if people no longer had a third-party, essentially impartial news source and instead had to rely on those making the news to get their information.

Yes, we are allowing that cement plant to discharge waste into your drinking water, but don't worry – comrade – it has plenty of minerals in it.

I hadn't thought about my fantasy until a somewhat recent event triggered it. It happened at the Feb. 2 West Plains Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting while taking notes on Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich's presentation to the 80-100 business professionals gathered.

It was a fun day as I was bestowed the honor of being the Sheriff's media whipping boy. Knezovich has had several high-profile incidents recently that haven't left him very satisfied with the Spokane media, and in some cases I understand his ire.

I'm not the Spokane media, but being the honest person I am, I raised my hand when he asked if any media members were present. Being the only one, I received his not so subtle, although not spiteful, jabs.

But hey, being Sheriff is not only being the top cop, but also a politician and Knezovich had a point to make, not just about the media but about people getting involved – something I agree with – in making communities safer and taking back government. And he was preaching to the choir since the mostly conservative audience usually sides with authority figures and has disdain for people like myself.

You know, the “gotcha, lame-stream” media.

But I was surprised when one of the members actually challenged Knezovich over the integrity of local police, saying he felt safer with criminals sometimes than with officers. I was surprised, but a couple minutes later this person quickly made sure that county deputies would respond to his calls by making the declaration that “I only believe in half of what the media says anyway.”

Suddenly, I was fantasizing. Really, I mentally asked? Which half? Why only that half? What knowledge would they have to make them think the other half was not believable?

It's not the first time I've been confronted with this. About a month ago someone wrote on a Facebook post that the media is only capable of writing at an eighth-grade level.

I was polite in my response, assuring him that we do not write at an eighth-grade level, all the while thinking that maybe we should because the majority of readers refuse to comprehend and think critically at a higher level.

I'm not saying the media is perfect, far from it. I'm not saying the media is always accurate. We get our information from a variety of sources, and with varying degrees of subject complexity, transmission limitations and deadlines sometimes we don't get the facts completely straight. Sometimes the facts we get are inaccurate, even from official sources.

But what would lead people to feel only half of what they read is accurate? Is it really what the media wrote that's not true? Or is it because people don't want to believe it's true? It conflicts with their belief systems.

I am constantly amazed at what people choose to believe, even in the face of the obvious that might prove otherwise. We learn about something, and a little voice in the back of minds goes “yep, that sounds right” but we don't want to hear it because it makes us uncomfortable, and might lead us to question our convictions.

So, we blame it on the media. And my fantasy returns.

It's a fantasy. It will never come true of course. The media is like the Mark Twain saying that, “I don't belong to an organized political party. I'm a Democrat.”

We'd try to unite, but some outlet somewhere would try for the scoop.