{"id":964,"date":"2014-06-02T09:40:12","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T21:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=964"},"modified":"2014-06-02T09:46:25","modified_gmt":"2014-06-01T21:46:25","slug":"all-we-want-are-the-facts-maam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=964","title":{"rendered":"\u2018All we want are the facts, ma\u2019am\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JoeFriday\"<\/a>Anyone old enough to remember radio in the 1950s and 60s (and, yes, there are some of us), will probably remember the iconic police drama Dragnet<\/em>.\u00a0 And they will probably also remember Sergeant Joe Friday\u2019s catchphrase: \u2018All we want are the facts, ma\u2019am.\u2019\u00a0 Tell us what<\/em> happened \u2013 and then we will worry about why<\/em> it might have happened.<\/p>\n

Sixty years on, advances in news gathering and dissemination should have made getting the facts really simple.\u00a0 Certainly simpler than it was back in the days of reporters with steno pads and bulky tape recorders and film cameras the size of suitcases.\u00a0 But it hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Spinmeisters now intervene at every opportunity in an attempt to ensure that we only get the facts that cast their paymasters in a favourable light.\u00a0 The less favourable facts they endeavour to block or twist or bury.\u00a0 Call it PR, call it reputation management, call it message enhancement; but make no mistake, these activities are not aimed at a full disclosure of the facts.<\/p>\n

And yet, in some ways, the spinmeisters are not the biggest part of the problem.\u00a0 Even more concerning is the role of the mainstream media in the 21st century.<\/p>\n

There was a time \u2013 maybe back in Dragnet<\/em> days \u2013 when mainstream media reported the facts and offered opinions.\u00a0 But there was always a clear line between the two. \u00a0This is what we understand to be the facts; and this is our opinion.\u00a0 But today that line has all but disappeared.<\/p>\n

Today, all too often, opinions are presented as facts.\u00a0 And even before the facts are in, there are tens or hundreds of \u2018commentators\u2019 offering their interpretations, adding \u2018speculative facts\u2019, and suggesting conclusions that any right-thinking person would be unwise to ignore.<\/p>\n

This year is an election year.\u00a0 We are told that the outcome will be a near run thing.\u00a0 And, indeed, it might be.\u00a0 But how are voters supposed to decide without facts?\u00a0 It\u2019s not an old-fashioned beauty contest.\u00a0 This is not a question of which group of would-be parliamentary representatives looks best in bathing costumes.<\/p>\n

We need to know what is being offered.\u00a0 We need to know the facts, ma\u2019am.\u00a0 You can offer your opinions.\u00a0 But, please, make sure that we have the unbiased facts by which we can evaluate your opinions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone old enough to remember radio in the 1950s and 60s (and, yes, there are some of us), will probably remember the iconic police drama Dragnet.\u00a0 And they will probably also remember Sergeant Joe Friday\u2019s catchphrase: \u2018All we want are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=964"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":966,"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions\/966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}