Vacation

I won't be posting much for the next two weeks, as we're on vacation.

We drove from California to Texas. On the drive down, we were talking about the quality of newspapers in California. The Sacramento Bee and the San Francisco Chronicle both operate the same way - choose a perspective, tell the story from that perspective, and leave out any point-of-view or fact that contradicts that perspective. Neither paper provides "just the facts." Living in California for as long as we have, we've come to accept that as the way things are. Today, we picked up the local Austin newspaper - Austin is a pretty liberal city, too - and were pleasantly surprised to find reporting that includes nearly enough facts to form an informed perspective. The front page features an article about a bond measure, with bullet points alongside summarizing the case for and against the measure.

Back in California, sfgate.com today featured an article about Chauncey Bailey, a Bay Area journalist killed for writing about Your Black Muslim Bakery. He was prepared to write a story about allegations of murder and financial malfeasance. Bailey was praised as an activist journalist, using the power of the pen to advocate for blacks. While advocating for human beings is a noble cause, it is not the traditional role of the media. The media's traditional role has been to inform, letting its informed readership advocate as they see fit. But advocating through the press is praised in the Bay Area, while failure to fully inform is forgiven and accepted.

Austin is the Capital of Texas, a liberal city in the middle of a conservative state. I wonder if conservatism, with its emphasis on individual responsibility, creates an incentive towards an informed citizenry?