Center for Online Investigative Research

My thoughts this morning focus on new insights provided by an important book by one of the world's best known linguists, George Lakoff. The book is "don't think of an elephant!" I am thinking about its profound implications on journalism.

Lakeoff teaches us about the importance of linguistic "frames", which he defines as "mental structures that shape the way we see the world." Essentially, the revelation is that when facts that don't fit one's personal frame or way of viewing the world, they bounce off. The person doesn't hear the facts or they don't compute.

Now let's think about journalism and its ethics requirement (by the Society of Professional Journalists) to "Seek Truth and Report It".

My caution to journalists is that they need to continually ask whether the information provided to them is framed in such away as to perpetuate a bias. If so, it is up to journalists to strip away that bias or frame. Journalists need to reframe issues so that news consumers can benefit from a diversity of opinion.

Let's talk about the frame "The War on Terror", which reporters use consistently to describe our involvement in Iraq. We continually see it spelled out in graphics on the television screen. We see it used as headline shorthand.

But let us ask, is it fair and accurate to describe US involvement in Iraq as a "War on Terror?" Opponents of the war would hardly describe it that way. In fact, they maintain that the war perpetuates terror by harming innocent civilians and by creating deep resentments against the United States that motivate hundreds if not thousands of people to become terrorists against us. Opponents might, therefore, describe the War on Terror as a War for Terror.

So we must ask why have we accepted the pro-War frame when that in and of itself suggests a lack of objectivity as well as factual inaccuracy.

Reporters should honor the spirit of the SPJ's ethics guidelines to "Seek Truth and Report It" by refusing to repeat frames that are inherently biased.