When the Truth Isn't Balanced, Should the Coverage Be?

From Coturnix over at Science and Politics, comes this heads-up:

Here is a great long essay on the current state of journalism, with Bob Woodward as an example of what is wrong, and Bill Moyers as an example of what is good. Here are some choice excerpts, but you have to go and read the whole thing - it is brilliant:

Fatal balance: An Ice Age falls on the newsroom by Hal Crowther.

One small excerpt:

"I am completely exasperated by this approach to the news," Silverstein wrote. "The idea seems to be that we go out to report but when it comes time to write we turn off our brains and repeat the spin from both sides. God forbid we should attempt to fairly assess what we see with our own eyes. 'Balanced' is not fair, it's just an easy way of avoiding real reporting and shirking our responsibility to inform readers." In a column headed "A False Balance," Paul Krugman of The New York Times mocked "journalists who believe they must be 'balanced' even when the truth isn't balanced."

As Coturnix says, it's brilliant and you really must go read it.