I received an e-mail from a viewer in response to our coverage of federal funding of stem cell research being stopped.  In it, she makes blanket accusations against President Obama, misrepresenting the facts.  That’s common in many opinions shared with us (and frustrates me to no end, since my job is to give the facts, only to have them ignored, but that’s another blog post), but what bothered me most was this woman’s final sentence:

“I don’t know what side of this issue you are on, but I pray that it is the morally right one.”

The morally right one?  Am I wrong that the statement just stinks of judgment and condescension?  This woman stated what she believes and then labelled it as “the morally right” opinion.  And, on top of that, she directed it to me specifically, praying that I, too, am on the morally right side of the debate.  Oh, I am not worthy, madam!

Perhaps I’m overreacting, but I don’t think this good witness to one’s beliefs.  Why would I want to take sides with someone who sees themselves as superior and, in the presentation of their opinion, is quite condescending.  My immediate reaction was to ignore the content of the rest of the e-mail and allow a deep desire to completely disassociate myself with this person simply because she’s so haughty.

This brings me to another lesson I take from listening to viewer opinions and that is regarding to presentation.  If I believe I am right about something and hope to convince someone else of the truth, it will more readily happen if I present it with fact, an open mind and a willingness to accept that there are opinions other than my own.  That creates a comfortable environment for an honest and respectful debate.  People tend to be more so willing to listen and think on opinions opposite of their own in such an environment.

Posted: August 25th, 2010 under 6:30 Talkback, Viewer Response.
Comments: 1

I try to take lessons from listening to viewer comments.  It’s not that I learn facts about anything.  (On the contrary, many of the viewer comments I hear are more often than not ignorant of the facts, despite the fact that I just provided the facts in my newscast.)  Instead, I try to take lessons about the delivery of opinions.

One of those lessons relates to absolutes.  It’s quite common for people to speak their opinions in absolutes.  ”The media always…”  ”Every illegal immigrant…”  ”All Muslims want to…”  The thing is, absolute statements are absolutely not true.  Statements about “the media” condemn every single member of the media, which isn’t accurate.  The word “always” is a lofty accusation that cannot be supported by the facts.  And, every member of a race or a religion is not like every other member.  Not all illegal immigrants are entering our country for shady reasons.  Some want a better life for their families.  Not all Muslims want death to all infidels.  There are peace-loving Muslims, just as there are Christians who would kill non-Christians.  Absolutes are absolutely not true.

And so, I’m quite careful with my speech, making sure for qualify my generalizations or be specific rather than using a blanket statement that’s not supportable as absolutely true.  Too many people are vilified because some choose to judge an entire group for the actions of the few.

Posted: August 24th, 2010 under 6:30 Live Chat, 6:30 Talkback, Viewer Response.
Comments: none

Last night’s In Depth topic was, sort of, “mouthy” politicians making headlines.  We started with the latest on the Blagojevich trial, as to whether or not he would testify (he won’t.)  We also included comments from Sarah Palin regarding the mosque planned near Ground Zero.  That segued into a Jeanne Moos piece on Palin, and other politicians, making up words.  In this case, Palin used the word “refudiate,” which is not a word.

Here are come of the calls we received:

“Rod Blagojevich, uh, he can talk his way out of a closet.  And as far as Sarah Palin is concerned, uh, she is a clown.  And we’re doing Shakespeare a disservice by even putting her in comparison with him.”

“Hey, it’s just like OJ Simpson; if you got enough money you can get off of anything you want to.  You can kill anybody or do anything you want, but, it just like OJ Simpson, always good if you’ve got money.  That’s what it takes.”

Posted: July 21st, 2010 under 6:30 Talkback.
Comments: none