[Imc] thanks, and a few questions (fwd)

[David Young]

Jacqueline,

Danielle Chynoweth asks IMC membership to respond to your questions
about the IMC's treatment of different viewpoints, its fact-checking, etc.

In thoroughly fragmentary fashion, here is one member's thoughts on
the issue:

I think that if the IMC will achieve some currency with the wider
community and avoid alienating segments of its membership, it must
avoid being a cheerleading squad for a handful of political groups or
interests.  Cheerleaders' message is for the team or its supporters;
no cheerleader cheers more than one team; and cheerleaders hearten,
celebrate, and entertain, but they do not inform. Much political
commentary is cheerleading in this sense, no matter what its slant, and
cheerleading commentary is stultifying, boring, and/or revulsively biased.

I have heard people say that they think it's important for everyone to
hear their own views in the media. I don't think that is what they really
mean to say. It is not actually useful to hear one's own views
in the media, except insofar as that means others hear one's views, too.
Moreover, it is not useful for one's own view to appear in an alternative
media outlet, and an opposing view in a mainstream outlet---especially
when the opposing views' foundations in fact and principle are not
compared and contrasted in either outlet---because then the appeal of
either view depends solely on personal prejudices. I believe that media
serving to "inform" personal prejudices is inimical to just governance
in a democracy.

Certainly facts in print articles should be checked.

I do not know if fact-checking is feasible for the IMC Web site. I do
think that a skeptical reader should give most Web articles a once-over;
any fact that they cannot contradict but they cannot verify deserves
a remark in an "editor's note" attached at the top or bottom of an
article. If a fact is wrong, there should be a published remark to that
effect, or the article should be sent back to the author for revision.

Just my two cents.

Dave

On Sun, Apr 22, 2001 at 01:40:29AM -0500, Danielle Chynoweth wrote:
> 
> can someone answer this and cc to the list?
> - danielle
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 18:29:28 -0500
> From: Jacqueline Waters <waters at soltec.net>
> To: info at urbana.indymedia.org
> Subject: thanks, and a few questions
> 
> Hello,

-- 
David Young                   On the Job Consulting
dyoung at onthejob.net     Urbana, IL * (217) 278-3933