Opinion
4A
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Other Views
What’s news?
It depends on
who you ask
I
need someone to tell me what’s happening. I make
the request because mainstream (if there is such a
thing) news outlets seem to fundamentally disagree
about what’s important.
On March 14, the top story on the Fox News website,
complete with video, was rioting in west coast cities on
the anniver-
sary of Breonna
Taylor’s death
— a dozen or
RICH MANIERI
so arrests, van-
JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR
dalism, clashes
with police.
Sounded like a pretty big deal.
In the interest of balance (if there is such a thing) I
went to CNN’s website. No mention of the riots.
As I write this, CNN’s top story is “Russia targeted
U.S. elections in 2020.” This story is “breaking news”
so it must be important. The subhead reads “An intel-
ligence report identifies Russian efforts aimed at deni-
grating Biden and helping Trump.” The story is based
on a U.S. intelligence report that also indicates “Iran
carried out a multi-pronged covert influence campaign
intended to undercut former President Trump’s reelec-
tion prospects.”
Back to the Fox News website. Crickets on the election
story. We have two, U.S.-based, international news orga-
nizations that appear to be operating in their own alter-
nate universes.
The easy explanation is that each outlet (and this dis-
cussion is not confined to Fox and CNN, they just happen
to be easy targets) is driving its own agenda. But there’s
a more complicated discussion to be had regarding why
the media has abdicated its responsibility to seek truth,
opting instead to advance its own subjective version of
reality.
Stories that run afoul of political orthodoxies aren’t
reported because they don’t exist. Moreover, there’s really
no interest in seeking balance on hot-button issues —
abortion, immigration, gun control or pick another —
because there is only one side worthy of representation.
Thus, a big story for one news outlet isn’t worthy of a
mention for another. “Big” and “important” are no longer
synonymous for “far-reaching” or “impactful.” Ideology
is now the metric by which we measure importance.
There are some stories whose mere coverage tran-
scends editorial judgment — natural disasters, elections,
wars. Such events are covered because they have to be.
There’s no decision to make, for example, as to whether
we should cover presidential campaigns. How they’re
covered and what’s reported is a different issue.
It’s not as if no one else has noticed. A recent poll by
the Knight Foundation found that “Sixty-eight percent of
Americans say they see too much bias in the reporting
of news that is supposed to be objective as ‘a major
problem.’”
Socially media exacerbates the problem, of course,
especially when Facebook and Twitter now see them-
selves as independent arbiters of truth, allowing them to
advance narratives they deem acceptable while extin-
guishing others. But Facebook and Twitter are not news
organizations in and of themselves. There are not Face-
book or Twitter reporters. Ground zero for journalistic
malpractice is the newsroom, where editorial decisions
are made.
It’s no mystery why young people often can’t distin-
guish between opinion and news reporting, two things
that Walter Cronkite once said should have as much day-
light between them “as the Bible and Playboy magazine.”
A bit crass, maybe, but correct.
I deal with students every day who will submit what
they think is a news story that, in reality, is nothing more
than an opinion column. Why? Because what’s being
marketing by news outlets and what’s being consumed
is often an amalgam of news, commentary, analysis and
predetermined narrative. Is it any wonder an 18-year-old
doesn’t know the difference?
You would think that with approval ratings only
slightly north of the local parking authority, news organi-
zations would feel some sense of urgency to restore order.
There are excellent journalists doing wonderful work
in news outlets throughout the country — from commu-
nity newspapers to TV networks. But if the pendulum
is ever going to swing back to objectivity, it’s going to
need a push from those who really value truth.
It will take some hard work and self-awareness
for news organizations to admit that we’re doing this
wrong. On the other hand, it will take almost no effort to
stay the course, cater to biases and tell us only what you
think we should hear.
———
Rich Manieri is a Philadelphia-born journalist and
author. He is currently a professor of journalism at
Asbury University in Kentucky. You can reach him at
manieri2@gmail.com.
Our View
Legislative amendment would be a
sucker punch to Oregon businesses
regon Sens. Jeff Merkley
and Ron Wyden worked
in the waning days of the
Trump administration to ensure
the federal government would not
hammer struggling businesses
that received Paycheck Protection
Act loans.
Thanks in part to their work,
it’s been made clear: Forgiven
PPP loans will not count as
income on federal taxes. And
even expenses paid with a PPP
loan are deductible on federal
taxes.
But Oregon legislators may do
things differently. An amendment
to House Bill 2457 seeks to tax
the federally forgiven PPP loans.
Congress designed PPP
O
loans to keep struggling busi-
nesses alive and their employees
employed. It would be a sucker
punch for the state to try to grab
it. Why would that be OK? Hav-
en’t Oregon businesses suffered
enough?
To make matters worse, it’s not
clear which legislator or legisla-
tors introduced this amendment.
That is not identified in legislative
documents. Why the secrecy?
Oregonians need to be able to
hold their legislators account-
able. At least, legislators won’t
get away with hiding who votes
for the amendment. We will be
watching.
We should be clear the com-
pany that owns The Observer
received a PPP loan. So did thou-
sands of other Oregon busi-
nesses. And the PPP program has
received some criticism. It was
put in place quickly. Some busi-
nesses who needed the help had
trouble getting the help. It’s been
argued others that didn’t deserve
help got it.
But it’s reprehensible the
state would attempt to raid
money intended to keep Ore-
gonians employed and allow
businesses to avoid collapse.
Oregon already taxes some busi-
nesses even if they don’t make a
profit under the state’s corporate
activity tax, so maybe some leg-
islators think plundering the PPP
is fair game. Do you?
How ironic that people are anxious
and willing to line up for a shot! Usu-
ally we put it off as long as possible.
We remember as kids, lining up in
school as the nurses gave us the polio
vaccine; different times, but the same
idea.
We appreciate the time the Center
for Human Development put into
planning and implementing this
procedure.
Barbara L. Smutz
La Grande
Development Inc. for the excellent job
they did in setting up the administra-
tion of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Clearly, the planning involved
great skill and professionalism. There
were multiple tasks: the setting up of
appointments; identifying a safe and
convenient physical site; the actual
arranging of the gym and collecting
the equipment needed to furnish the
gym; the identifying and selecting
of skilled and compassionate profes-
sionals and volunteers to man the site.
And, I am sure all this was arranged
under significant time pressure.
I am grateful for the staff at
CHD and volunteers for their
outstanding work.
Hazel Sachie Spiegel
La Grande
Letters
CHD vaccination a seamless
experience
We want to commend the Center
for Human Development Inc. for the
way they are handling the COVID-19
vaccinations in Union County. Since
we had registered our email addresses,
we knew when to sign up for a spot,
but were nervous until the confirma-
tion came saying we had a reserved
time.
When we arrived at the Riveria
Activity Center, La Grande, for
the vaccinations, the process was
amazing. Everyone working there was
extremely helpful, caring and accom-
modating. The process and the facility
both were extremely organized,
leading to a seamless experience.
Administration of local vaccination
event was outstanding
I just received my second shot of
the Moderna vaccine and I want to
acknowledge the Center for Human