Sacred cows

Every story you read is tainted with subjectivity to some degree and the writer who tells you their product is purely objective is lying. There is no uncontaminated objectivity, of course, because we all come with a set of experiences that color our world and it’s reflected in our writing to some degree.

If the strongly held positions are kept to the editorial pages, readers can hope that the rest of the journalism reflects the numerous views of the writers. We don’t think a point of view is a liability, as long as the subject is treated fairly and the point of view is buttressed with solid reporting.

But what happens when the owners pull a story because it doesn’t jibe with their views, either political or religious? The readership has no idea that the information is being kept from view or why. Should the owners be upfront with their religious point of view, like when they title the publication the Catholic Herald, or do they really owe the readership an explanation of their beliefs in the first place? This question is examined in our cover story, “Scientology, Inc.” (see page 18). We think the owners of the publication in question got a fair deal from this newspaper, and if you think not, let us know by writing a letter to the editor.