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> I am not perfectly fine with political ads that pretend to be impartial depictions of reality. Let me guess - you think that documentaries are typically "rea

by anamax 17y ago

> I am not perfectly fine with political ads that pretend to be impartial depictions of reality. Let me guess - you think that documentaries are typically "reality". They're not. If you think that news is reality, you've never seen coverage for something that you experienced personally. That said, there is no objective line between political speech and truth. And, more to the point, political speech is supposedly what the first amendment protects. (In practice, the protections for porn are stronger but even there the excuse is protecting political speech.)

rbanffy 17y ago
There is a reasonable expectation that documentaries should be unbiased depictions of whatever they happen to be about. When you set out to make a documentary it's expected from you not to misrepresent what you know about the subject matter. I don't expect it to happen 100% of the time, but that's what separates good journalism from Fox News (or NBC, according to you). I take all journalism with a grain of salt, but I also expect journalists to at least try to properly inform their audience. You know the saying: with great power comes great responsibility.
- anamax 17y ago
  > There is a reasonable expectation that documentaries should be unbiased depictions of whatever they happen to be about. Since they're not, that expectation isn't reasonable. More important, even if they're not distorting what they're showing, they're choosing what to show, and that distorts. > I also expect journalists to at least try to properly inform their audience. Good for you. However, that's not how they actually behave. And no, this is not specific to Fox or NBC. It's universal. Every source has a point of view. > You know the saying: with great power comes great responsibility. Nice saying, but it's a hope, one that isn't actually true. Great power does not imply anything more than great power. It doesn't, for example, imply truthfulness.

by anamax 17y ago

rbanffy 17y ago

There is a reasonable expectation that documentaries should be unbiased depictions of whatever they happen to be about. When you set out to make a documentary it's expected from you not to misrepresent what you know about the subject matter. I don't expect it to happen 100% of the time, but that's what separates good journalism from Fox News (or NBC, according to you). I take all journalism with a grain of salt, but I also expect journalists to at least try to properly inform their audience. You know the saying: with great power comes great responsibility.

anamax 17y ago
> There is a reasonable expectation that documentaries should be unbiased depictions of whatever they happen to be about. Since they're not, that expectation isn't reasonable. More important, even if they're not distorting what they're showing, they're choosing what to show, and that distorts. > I also expect journalists to at least try to properly inform their audience. Good for you. However, that's not how they actually behave. And no, this is not specific to Fox or NBC. It's universal. Every source has a point of view. > You know the saying: with great power comes great responsibility. Nice saying, but it's a hope, one that isn't actually true. Great power does not imply anything more than great power. It doesn't, for example, imply truthfulness.