{"id":273188,"date":"2024-05-18T22:05:27","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T05:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesofsandiego.com\/?p=273188"},"modified":"2024-05-19T06:52:16","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T13:52:16","slug":"for-todays-political-journalists-uncovering-the-truth-must-be-the-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesofsandiego.com\/opinion\/2024\/05\/18\/for-todays-political-journalists-uncovering-the-truth-must-be-the-goal\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: For Today’s Political Journalists, Uncovering the Truth Must Be the Goal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"TV<\/a>
TV cameras at a press conference. iStock photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My ability to be neutral as a political journalist depends on the intellectual honesty of the people \u2014 and the society \u2014 I cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in an era when one side of the political spectrum is not always operating in good faith, and when people in my position are increasingly losing the trust of the audiences we serve, I don\u2019t think neutrality should be the final goal. Instead, perhaps, we should think about neutrality more as a means to an end: uncovering the truth, without fear or favor, and presenting that truth to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Opinion<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The dictionary<\/a> defines being neutral as, \u201cnot aligned with or supporting any side or position in a controversy.\u201d There are certainly aspects of my job where this is core to the work, such as in reporting, where being neutral means asking open-ended questions and dispassionately following facts, wherever they may lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take criminal justice policy, one of the most challenging beats that I have ever covered. When I began reporting on the topic 15 years ago, California was grappling with prisons so crowded that, eventually, the U.S Supreme Court stepped in and ordered the state to reduce the populations.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This record incarceration was the result of a \u201ctough on crime\u201d movement that correlated safety with long prison sentences. But that correlation wasn\u2019t borne out by the facts: People were receiving decades-long sentences for drug possession or property crimes, taking state funding away from schools and other core state services. California also had a very high recidivism rate, meaning most people who were released from prison would quickly return \u2014 but it often wasn\u2019t for a new violent crime, rather for a simple violation of their parole rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I felt it was crucial to tell this story from all angles \u2014 and not just from the perspective of crime victims or law enforcement, who had dominated the discussion during the \u201ctough on crime\u201d era. I wanted to capture the points of view of the people who were incarcerated, and their families and communities who were impacted by their crimes and the punishment meted out. I tried to center my reporting not just on anecdotes but on data and research \u2014 even if that research did not comport with widely accepted assumptions and beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not always popular to do so, even with my editors, who were used to relying on conventional sources and well-worn narratives. Now, a decade or so into the reforms sparked by the prison overcrowding crisis \u2014 and as we face new challenges around property crimes and drug use \u2014 I am digging back into this issue to assess whether the reforms worked, or if they are to blame for the problems so evident in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t yet know what I will find. But I do know that my job is to report it, no matter who likes or dislikes the findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, I\u2019ll come to the point in my work when I have to leave neutrality behind and seek objectivity. Once I have answered the questions that I set out to ask, I have to make a call about what I found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That doesn\u2019t mean taking a side in the political sense. It means taking the side of the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can be a challenge in itself. It\u2019s particularly hard when you are interviewing someone on live TV or radio, where you must push back against falsehoods in real time. Recently, we had U.S Senate candidate Eric Early, someone who believes that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, on my radio show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not an intellectually honest argument to make, even if many Americans agree with it: The facts don\u2019t bear out. So, when I am in the studio with Early in that moment, it\u2019s not my job to stay \u201cneutral\u201d and simply listen. It\u2019s my job to question, to push back \u2014 and, yes, call out the lies when they are uttered. It doesn’t have to be confrontational or uncivil, but it is key to doing my job responsibly.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where objectivity becomes key \u2014 the ability to set aside personal feelings or opinions and look at the facts, then make a judgment based on that information. Neutrality alone \u2014 the idea of not aligning yourself with one side \u2014 doesn’t cut it when you\u2019re faced with someone who is lying, obfuscating, or being intellectually dishonest, even if they believe what they\u2019re saying. But it\u2019s also a mistake to see objectivity in this kind of situation as taking a side, other than the side of the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the role of a journalist is to seek, uncover, and broadcast the truth. Without fear or favor. Without my own beliefs getting in the way. Even if, in this moment, it is harder than ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marisa\u00a0Lagos\u00a0is a correspondent for KQED\u2019s California Politics and Government Desk and co-hosts a weekly show,\u00a0\u201cPolitical Breakdown.\u201d This was written for <\/em>Z\u00f3calo Public Square<\/em><\/a>, an Arizona State University media enterprise.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The role of a journalist is to seek the truth. Without fear or favor. Without our own beliefs getting in the way. 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