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From: UCC_PEM@SHSU.BITNET
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.politics
Subject: Just the Facts Ma'am....
Message-ID: <90039.1517.UCC_PEM@SHSU>
Date: 8 Feb 90 15:17:00 GMT
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>The point I am getting at is the danger of journalists being coopted into
>the political system by relying on the words of politicians only.  It
>is a credibility question of the reporter and what is reported.
>My experience is newspapers is the op/ed section. True that is where
>the TRUTH is discussed. However, a statement that is misleading or
>wrong by a politician is a fact, untruthful fact.  I prefer too have
>truthful facts to make judgements on TRUTH.
>
>Ken Wilcox
>Chew chew munch munch...

Are you familiar with bolean algebra?  Being a programmer I am rather intimate
with it (the only thing I've been intimate with in a long time ;-) ).

A -> B  == A implies B
A <-> B == A implies B and B implies A
~ == not  (the mailers may change this...it is a tilde)

fact <-> truth   This is simple.

If 2 politicians (I will use my children's names to avoid ruffling anyone's
feathers) make statements, Robert says A and Paula says B and A <-> ~B (in
other words they are mutually exclusive).  The first proposition is that "Robert
said B", call this Z.  The second proposition is "Paula said B", call this Y.

Z is true. Y is true.  They DID make those statements, and the fact that they
made those statements is news.  However, Robert said B and Paula said A, and, A
or B MUST be false then the contradiction is a fact and thereby news.

In the above example, a reporter would (should) be compelled to report both
statements and let the reader see the contradiction for himself and decide
which he would prefer to believe. In addition, he may support one or attack the
other with other facts to help point out which one is true.

A reporter has much leeway in pursuing this.  Using some facts and not others a
good reporter can make Hitler sound like Jesus Christ (I proved this in an
English class, by the way).  Reporting requires a lot of personal integrity and
a sense of duty to stick to the facts.  Today's reporting has, largely, strayed
from that basic idea to sensationalism and "scooping" the other guy at all
costs.  One of the most glaring examples are those rags you buy at grocery
stores, like the Star and The Enquirerer.

Paul E. Mason