“For the same reason that farmers don't irrigate crops with raw seawater and Fido isn't allowed to gorge on chocolate, credible newspapers normally don't mix their institutional opinion with news content. That's a toxic mix that would poison credibility. Readers would rightly question whether free and independent efforts were guiding the newsgathering processes or whether that work was so much puppetry at the hands of the board. To guard against that, most daily newspapers are extremely careful about keeping news operations and content separate and apart from editorial page and Op-Ed work.”
One of the things I'm going to miss most as print newspapers fade into oblivion is this principle of separation of news and opinion. It sounds almost quaint already. "Credible newspapers don't mix opinion with news content." In the 21st century, being credible is not a goal. It's not a prerequisite for market success. Sometimes, it seems that just the opposite is the case.
Fox News trumpets being "Fair and Balanced" when they mean no such thing and their viewers know it (and relish it). Bill O'Reilly poses as an objective analyst hosting the so-called "No Spin Zone" when, in fact, his popularity is built on spinning a right-wing angle to every story. Dallas Blog's banner proclaims "News and Viewpoints" even though its reporters act like reporting news straight is a sign of failure. The result is the kind of "toxic mix" Mr House laments.
There are many reasons why I won't mourn the death of print newspapers. But the principle of separation of news and opinion is something newspapers had and the blogosphere doesn't that I will miss.
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