BBC and other fast-food media: judges, juries

Perhaps one of the most frustrating things about reading the news from even so-called "reputable" news outlets is the tendency of these fast-food information houses to usurp the role of judge and jury in spite of their obvious inability to verify that they have all the facts around their cases (maybe that's why media won't ever be given legal authority to pass judgment on others). I was looking at BBC News with my morning coffee and must confess this was one of those mornings when I was embarrassed for this news outlet in light of its blatant editorializing of the situation around the Church scandals erupting around the world.

What fascinates me about the media's abuse of information is that they seem to be able to get away with it and sway otherwise-comatose consumers to come to the same conclusions. All the titles in the title bar for headlines (click the image above for more detail) are not, in fact, the actual titles for the news stories. I saw the headline Pope 'failed to act' on sex abuse and clicked it.  Here's the actual title of the article:

They've obviously already led the audience to come to a conclusion before reading the article (the "analysis" of which is also heavily biased against the Pope and the Vatican, informing me as a critical reader that the amateur who wrote the article probably didn't do his/her homework or has already made a judgement on his/her own collection of "facts").

Having said all this about the dismal technique of certain journalists, I cannot ignore the issue in focus here: the scandals. Such abuse (in any venue, including schools, social services, homes, and parishes) is heinous and must be brought to justice. There's just no excuse for a system that does not allow for swift and appropriate response to such matters. My heart goes out to all involved - and I know that I will do my part to voice the need for reform on this matter.

The lesson here: ALWAYS be a critical thinker when new information comes to you, especially from news outlets or polemic writers. If you're on mental cruise control, chances are you'll never really know the truth of what's being fed to you and you may even fall prey to their Houdini-esque illusions of reality. Personally I prefer to cruise multiple sources and stick with the ones that provide access to documents or other primary data. BBC and other fast-food news tend to digest and regurgitate the info they think will sell - hence the reason I'll just skim it with my morning coffee, if at all (about 5 minutes).