Steeped as I am in the journalistic lore of balance and finding myself musing ever more often how valuable it would be if you could read news these days that just told you what was actually going on, I was all the more forcibly struck yesterday by a quiet but passionate plea for more bias.

It came from a Kenyan journalist, one of the leaders of the media scene in East Africa. I shan’t mention his name for God knows what a blaze saying the ‘wrong thing’ could start in that tinder box of a nation. But his general point was this.

We in the media are neurotically obsessed with balance. There is a case for balance. However there is a case for bias. It is called making a judgement. In any political system and especially a system in crisis, the media, like it or not, leads public opinion. Journalism that bends over backwards not to make a judgement is a lie. Yes, it may be factually true but without moral or value judgement it is a much a lie as a black and white photograph of a Matisse. Far better that the media should take a position and provide intellectual leadership in a democracy than neuter itself with neutrality. That position at best will be wise and thoughtful. At worst it could be wildly wrong. However the wildly wrong doesn’t stick. The wise and thoughtful does.

He made the point only in passing over a plate of mezze so I may have put words into his mouth. But this is what I took away with me.

Compelling.

Entry Filed under: Newspapers