Questions on the Responsibility of Newspaper Publishing

[Innoma]

I work for a local, left-leaning community newspaper as a person primarily responsible for layout and other technical issues. I don't necessarily have a lot of input on content, although I do manage to sneak in bits and pieces about such things as the Downing Street Memo, among other things (I guess I shouldn't use the term 'sneak' since the newspaper owners are fully aware of what I do and approve of the content).

One of the things I always end up doing is biasing stories by using photos that may show Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld (or any other Republican part member, for that matter) in an unflattering light. You know what I mean - Bush in one of his innumerable facial tics, Rumsfeld of Cheney looking fairly maniacal, etc., etc. I also devise little filler graphics that illustrate how Iraq is not any safer after one year or how much we spend militarily or which members of Congress didn't sign the anti-lynching legislation, and so on and so forth.

Now, I'm no newspaper publisher, mind you, just a kind of semi-empowered back-room graphic-designer/tech-type, so I have questions. We all know how MSM has largely rolled over these last few years and played willing puppets to this administration's incessant propoganda (I mean, watching Fox "News" is such a gag-inducing, wholly-transparent arm of the WH that its not even funny). I admit that what I do to spin our stories amounts to pretty much the same thing the MSM is guilty of overall.

So...

Where does the responsibility rest? After all, my efforts at countering right-wing spin is really no better than what the MSM do on a daily basis. Does a news outlet -- whether a large one like the Washington Post, or a small one like our community newspaper with a readership of about 12,000 -- have an absolute responsility to provide fair and accurate stories, or is it all a game of spin and counter-spin? To bring that question down a couple of pegs, does a community newspaper provide "news" or is it really nothing more than a broad-stroke editorial page for the owner?

[applegrove]

1. Is this a dupe?

[back2basics909]

2. Well...

In a perfect world we should have no spin or even opinion in news, just facts. Opinion can be left out of news, and left to somebody else to do.

Many years ago there was discussion at the BBC on how to deliver the news. If you notice BBC news presenters all talk in mono-tone. They rarely express any sort of emotion on the subject matter. Of course if somebody died, they talk in a somber manor.. they however would never inflict opinion in tone of voice as you see in America on every news channel.

It does not have to be boring. What it does it actively encourages discussion and thought on subjects.. which is a good thing.