Tom Frazier: Is Sun-Star fair and balanced?

Readers seem confused about the three words, "fair and balanced," when it comes to the Sun-Star and other news sources.

They claim that news media, including the Sun-Star, have its own political agenda. That may well be true, but does it affect the way news is reported?

Most say networks have their own leanings, with most to the left and Fox well to the right.

But let's forget about national media and concentrate on the Sun-Star.

A primer is in order. There's a big difference between news and opinion.

Reporters gather facts and report news. Columnists don't report news -- they write about things that matter to them. They share their opinions.

Reporters should be fair and balanced. Columnists need not. Actually, opinion columns should be vigorous arguments for a particular point of view, totally unbalanced.

Sometimes, it's easy to tell when you are reading news or opinions. Other times it's a bit murky. In the Sun-Star, the "Perspective" pages are opinions -- as are articles written by columnists.

Articles written by reporters are usually news, but not always. I told you it was sometimes murky. Take the column "Loose Lips." It's clearly an opinion of one reporter.

Perhaps Loose Lips should be moved to the Perspective section.

Obituaries are neither news, nor columns. They are paid announcements provided by families, funeral homes or other sources. The newsroom doesn't get involved. If they are edited at all, it is done in the advertising department.

Fair and balanced doesn't just apply to political stories. Every news story should consider both sides of the issue at hand.

In a recent story, about the resignation of Dianna Westmoreland Pedrozo, a reader accused the reporter of using a "selective quote."

In that story, reporter Jonah Owen Lamb concentrated on Pedrozo's "aggressive nature."

But Maxwell Norton, who was quoted in the article, said in his letter to the editor, that Lamb failed to mention the rest of the story.

If the article was fair and balanced, Norton thought that Lamb should have used the rest of his quote, which explained that being aggressive meant that Pedrozo was doing her job well.

That's perhaps one example of not following the fairness guideline -- but it doesn't happen often.

On the opinion side, it's expected that a newspaper would tout its positions, political and otherwise.

Some readers think the Sun-Star isn't fair and balanced when they disagree with the paper's viewpoints. Sorry, but I disagree. The paper has every right to articulate and defend its positions in any manner it sees fit.

Some say the paper should echo the viewpoints of its audience.

Steve Cameron, in a recent column about Rush Limbaugh, guessed that about 60 percent of the Sun-Star audience was conservative. That may have been true a few years back -- but no longer.

According to the California Secretary of State, as of Oct. 20, 2008, Merced County's voters were registered 46 percent Democratic and 37 percent Republican. The remaining 17 percent were either in another party or refused to indicate a party. (Source: Wikipedia.)

Either way, whether the audience leans liberal or conservative, the paper shouldn't reflect a consensus view. It may be a good marketing ploy to do so, but the paper needs to reflect it own core values.

Yes -- that means opinions, columns and editorials may be one-sided. Or maybe some columnists lean one way while others lean the opposite way.

If the paper needs to do anything different at all, it should make the line between news and opinion a bit clearer.

And, of course, strive to keep news reporting fair and balanced.

Tom Frazier writes Sun Dog and can be reached at sundog@promessage.com.