by Victor Preuninger

Created on: December 18, 2009   Last Updated: December 19, 2009

When journalism becomes fiction.

I find it interesting that this issue is posited as a statement, implying that journalistic fiction is itself a “fact.”  While I’m sure we can all recite instances of journalism creating its own facts, it seems to me the real issue is the question of “When, exactly, does journalistic output become fiction?” 

As a reluctant buyer of the New York Post, (for the London Times crossword), I actually don’t find too many instances of “facts” being created. Yet, in reading this paper, it is often extremely difficult to regard it as anything more than fiction. 

We live in an extremely complex world. In the majority of the issues we face, however, the “facts” are generally not disputed to any great extent. Rather, I think it is in the meaning and proper interpretation of these facts that journalism (together with politicians, advertisers, special interests, and other power centers), creates fiction. 

Given the enormous complexity of contemporary issues, most people today are simply not capable of assembling all the (often at least partly contradictory) facts in one place, sifting through that mountain of data, and reaching a fact based conclusion. 

Rather, we have come to rely on “experts” to give us an understanding of the facts. These “experts,” it turns out, are usually none other than the aforementioned power centers, who are able to frame the issue in terms of their own interests, and provide self-serving conclusions to a gullible public, at the same time changing the assumptions from which the issue is viewed.

If we take as an example the current debate over health care, the general and usually unstated assumption is that America has the finest health care system in the world, with the only relevant issues being its cost (to specific payers) and expanding accessibility. 

The fact that America spends more than double (per capita) what other countries do is well known (National Geographic, Jan. 2010).  The fact that our life expectancy is also significantly lower than in other developed nations (ibid) is also widely known. In spite of such facts, however, the public assumption is not that we are being ripped off by our own health care system. 

Rather, implicit in any “solutions,” is the precondition that we not touch or even seriously examine, any major components

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