Information overload

First, some guidelines about how to “read” news stories. Never assume that a single article or report on a given day is the whole story. Journalism is a mosaic-like process. Good reporters create the mosaic by not starting with a preconceived design. Each story on a particular subject is but one tile, just a beginning-and maybe flawed. The next story on that subject adds a new tile, perhaps some new perspective-and so on until an intelligible picture begins to emerge. Think of the Karl Rove/CIA leak story. It’s now more than two years old and a number of pieces have fallen into place, but the mosaic still has large gaps and is not yet coherent. Why has it taken so long? Mostly, it’s because the case has been in the hands of a very tight-lipped federal prosecutor who holds most of the pieces. When he finally speaks, maybe the picture will clear. But there are other reasons, too, why a story may take a long time to come out of the fog. Government secrecy. An inattentive press. Or a press corps with a pack mentality that charges off occasionally on false leads. We’re human and fallible; keep that in mind when you’re getting your news of the day.

Source: Sydney H. Schanberg, The Village Voice

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