There’s
a lot of information available to anyone who looks. There’s even more
misinformation available.
Sometimes
there’s a shortcut to the needed information, such as a link from a newspaper
article. Sometimes using exact words from an article in the browser may help.
Whose ox is being gored
The major caveat about news sources, such as newspapers, is
credibility. Today’s news media includes a lot of advocacy journalism, which isn't identified as opinion like the editorials used to be. The same five
questions we use when evaluating political claims can help tease out bias in “news”
articles:
- · Who does this point of view (POV) benefit?
- · Why is it proposed now?
- · What supporting or conflicting data is reasonably available?
- · Does the data look “cherry picked” (selected to prove a point)? And most important,
- · Is the article supported by facts and/or logical argument? (“Everybody knows,” and self-quotes aren't factual or logical support, of course.)
Cherry
picked data is usually evident when the data all points to a specific conclusion
or is suspect in its application.
Example
One Register
article, for instance, noted that “police” supported gun control
measures. Actually, an organization of large-city Chiefs of Police announced
their organization’s support of a few of the proposed measures. And, it was announced
immediately after their visit to Washington, D.C. seeking grant funds. However,
a large-scale survey of the rank and file, especially of the street cops,
revealed that the overwhelming majority of cops believed the proposed gun
control laws would be useless in combating crime. This was not mentioned.
We
see similar data cherry picking in reports of $500K PR programs (Mesa Water) or excessive spending on
infrastructure such as road repair (Costa
Mesa City).
All use it to convince
Propagandists
appeal to emotion, agitators divert attention to irrelevancies, and both cherry
pick their data. Unfortunately, Advocacy Journalists use cherry picked data as
well. Ask the five questions!
Some user-friendly sources
Very
good, if sometimes clunky, access to “everything you ever wanted to know about Costa Mesa government” is available on
the City’s website: http://www.costamesaca.gov/ . Transparency is real on the website, but the data
file is enormous. So it is important to understand and define exactly what is
wanted.
Some
relevant articles and commentary (remember advocacy journalism) are available
from the Daily Pilot: http://www.dailypilot.com/
For
subscribers, a wider variety of news can be found (with the same caveat) in the
Orange County Register at: http://www.ocregister.com/
And more obscure. . .
There
are weekly newspapers, both print and online that feature Costa Mesa, as well as blogs that focus on some aspect of the City
of the Arts. Caveat emptor, though, if credible information is the goal. We
have found one, or possibly two, well-researched news sources among all of
them.
Everybody
has an opinion, only a few have the facts.
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