Quote, unquote: Truth and the nutbar

"The new key to success has been to not alienate anyone. To not be controversial. Combine that with the 'objectivity' doctrine drilled into J-school students beginning in the 1960s. Which was compounded by the media's inflated sense of its power after Watergate, and accompanying self-imposed mandate of being extraordinarily fair. The result has been the 'on-the-one-hand, on-the-other' journalism of today. Today, any newspaper article describing what is blatantly true must include in equal measure the views of nutbars holding the opposite view. 'These things we hold to be self-evident' would not pass muster with contemporary newsroom managers. Instead, the operating principle is: 'This story's not balanced, everyone you quote says water is wet. Go back and get the other side.'"

-- Toronto Star columnist David Olive in a recent post about why he retains his faith in the future of newspapers.