Article by Gretchen Chambers

Here’s something obvious:  We need to know what’s going on around us and at large.  Our very safety, health, and security depend on our knowledge of what’s happening in our community, our country, and the world.  

Older people (like me) remember getting “the news” from local papers and the three national TV networks and their local affiliates.  These sources largely vied for our attention (and advertising) pursuing better and better reporting according to standards of journalism.  

Now, news sources are very different and greatly multiplied.  Local papers have gone under or been syndicated.  Cable TV and the internet have added scores of news networks and shows to TV’s original handful.  The many iterations of social media snap up our attention through our ever-present phones.  

Perhaps the most important development from all this splintering and innovation is that, rather than compete with quality journalism, some news sources now vie for our attention (and advertising) by prioritizing entertainment and personal affirmation over objective reporting.  We respond, irresistibly, “liking” and “sharing” our way into bubbles of self-curated information allowing algorithms to layer on more and more reflections of our preferences.  This customized input is fun and affirms our lifestyle choices and beliefs.  But it’s not safe.  

We can’t make sound choices for our lives when the only news input we get is what we like and want to believe.  We need input from objective, thorough reporting.  

It’s still out there.  Many journalists, reporting locally, nationally, and globally, do their best to report facts and accurate context.   How do we recognize their work?  We can look for adherence to standards of journalism.  Below are a few examples and also two non-partisan sites offering more complete standards.  

Self-reflective information bubbles are not good for us.  We should try to keep this in mind and make a deliberate habit of searching out objective reporting based on standards of journalism, such as, 

• Presenting the facts and necessary context in a dispassionate manner
• Using and verifying multiple, credible sources, including eyewitnesses, officials, and experts.  [Note citations and look them up yourself if you doubt them.]
• Treating sources and subjects with appropriate respect, giving subjects a chance to share their points of view or respond to allegations.  
• Providing balance representing multiple sides of the issue, event, or controversy without giving undue weight to one point of view

For more on this, check out these sources: News Literacy Project – https://newslit.org, Crash Course Navigating Digital Information – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLlv2o6UfTU

This article was co-published by the Ellensburg Daily Record on January 4, 2025. Gretchen Chambers is retired from a varied job career (which included landscaping, health care, and more) and is now working with her husband to thin and protect their 70 acres of forest around their home near Lookout Mountain. She is a member of the Kittitas County League of Women Voters.