Unbiased

In high school, I was secretary of every club I belonged to. Those were the days when secretaries were girls almost by definition, and the nerdy clubs I joined consisted mostly of boys. I didn’t mind. Taking minutes let me record events as I saw them, truthfully but with editorial comment. I might describe a discussion as interminable, or mention smirks and rolled eyes when someone said something particularly stupid.

By my twenties I’d reached a more adult understanding of responsibility. Impersonal writing had no place for personal bias. And yet . . . My college seminar professor Mr. Blodgett taught us that history without bias was impossible. However hard you strive for objectivity, you must still choose what to include and how to arrange it. Researchers must decide what to investigate. Journalists must decide who to interview. An editor must decide which story to headline. Nor is “fair and balanced” a solution. Do flat earth and round earth merit equal weight?

Between 1950 and 1981, Americans heard Walter Cronkite’s news reports with confidence and respect. He was called the most trusted man in America. I haven’t heard that said of anyone else in decades. Advances in technology let us choose our separate silos, who we’ll trust and who we’ll dismiss. We debate not just policies but facts. The skeptics among us distrust everybody.

There’s no going back, but that doesn't mean "anything goes." Repeat as fact only what’s true; base claims on evidence; reveal possible conflicts of interest. Follow the scientific method or the journalists’ code of ethics. Every honest step helps, even if we can’t avoid bias altogether. Even Walter Cronkite had to decide which news was important enough to report.

Image: Newsman Walter Cronkite, “the most trusted man in America.”