From the Editor
Robin Carson | Editor, news&views
Paradigm Shift
This column used to be called “In My Opinion” but in the last while, it has had
the more general title “From the Editor” and has dealt more with changes to
news&views than with opinion. However, this time, I have an opinion for you,
and I think that it is an important one.
Editorializing news is no longer frowned upon,
apparently. Once, reporters used to work very
hard to report fact and keep opinion out of what
they wrote. Opinion was confi ned to the editorial
page of newspapers or to what columnists wrote.
Now, opinion has spread into the news, too.
Particularly in stories that relate to politics or
pipelines, curriculum or climate change, the
opinion of the writer — or of that writer’s medium
— is pervasive. While the media have always tried
to infl uence their readers as well as inform them,
never has the bias of the writer mixing fact with
opinion been as blatant as it is today.
President Trump in the US has made the term
‘fake news’ popular. It is not a new idea that news
can be false: manufactured ‘news’ is the meat
and potatoes of every department of propaganda.
By telling partial truths or by mixing fact with a
clever blend of fi ction, most people can be made
to believe almost anything. Logic gets a holiday.
There is also an increasing tendency to equate
belief with fact. A hundred scientists can warn
about global warming, but all a single politician
has to say is, “Yes, but I don’t believe it,” and
that is enough to forestall any action that might
alleviate the problem. We have moved into an
age in which the rights of the individual trump
(sorry!) the rights of the collective, and I suspect
that we will suff er deeply because of that shift.
If you don’t know what ‘solipsism’ means, it
really would be worth your while to look it up
and familiarize yourself with the term because
we have defi nitely entered an era of solipsistic
thought. Lie to protect yourself. Operate on your
own beliefs, and logic and science be damned! Let
the generations to follow worry about themselves!
It has become, “Me fi rst! And let the women and
children fi nd their own lifeboats!” Am I that bitter?
You bet I am! And that, folks, is ‘My Opinion.’
Give more; ask less. That is what I believe. ●
news&views WINTER 2018 | 9