#9

First, I do not believe fairness and balance are necessarily linked in journalism (specifically science journalism). To be ‘balanced’ would be to give different sides of a controversial issue equal coverage. Sometimes this may be appropriate, but not when one side is supported by much more evidence than the other. This is especially essential when reporting science; you cannot pass a position that most scientists take as equal to a position that politicians or businessmen take. They don’t know science, so their beliefs are only rooted in what will further their agendas.

            To be fair would be to acknowledge the side that has more support and demonstrate that it has more scientific backing in the article. If a science writer provides a summary of all of the valid scientific evidence for two sides of an argument, it should come out which side is more supported simply by the greater abundance of content about one side than the other.

            As for Fox News, I do not believe they are fair or balanced. They certainly aren’t fair, as they often poke fun at scientists and make well-supported theories such as climate change out to be fictional creations. They definitely have underlying motives for all of their content as they are an overtly conservative network dedicated to serving the politicians and businesses which fund them.

            They also don’t seem to be balanced. I don’t think that balancing sides that do not have equal support is accurate journalism, but if one chooses to do so, then their viewers should at least then have a basic understanding of both sides (since they should have both been covered equally). However, Fox News viewers apparently scored even lower on a test of current issues than people who did not watch the news, indicating that there must have been some misinformation from the network. Most likely, there is a complete imbalance with the side that is receiving more coverage being the side that is not supported by science unless it is convenient for the conservatives.

            This falsification of science for political gain only generates more skeptics of science when naïve viewers sadly watch this channel. And when people center their beliefs and lives around these lies, we are kept from moving forward as a society.