Published: 19 September 2012
Country: US
The Seattle Times launched a social media campaign supporting the same-sex marriage. The newspapers asks for help from readers who approve of the editorial board’s support of a Washington state referendum that will enshrine same-sex marriage in state law.The Seattle Times directs readers to a photo of a sign published in the Sunday print paper and a link to the photo. It then asks them to share it on Twitter or Instagram with the appropriate hashtag, reports Poynter.
The paper has a photo gallery of people holding the sign. The Seattle Times’ editorial section, which is a finalist for 2012 the Online News Association awards, has been experimenting with new ways of approaching editorials. Earlier this year, it published a “rap op-ed” in response to local shootings.
“Bias’ evil twin is what New York Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan calls “false balance” in her inaugural print column. Philip B. Corbett, associate managing editor for standards at the Times, tells Sullivan: ‘I think editors and reporters are more willing now than in the past to drill down into claims and assertions, in politics and other areas, and really try to help readers sort out conflicting claims.’ She cites stories on climate change and evolution as subjects in which The Times has addressed controversy without rolling over”, reports Poynter.
As Sullivan writes, you’re entitled to your own opinion but not to your own facts, goes the line from Daniel Patrick Moynihan, made current again on the PressThink blog by Jay Rosen of New York University, a media critic who has pressed the fact-checking argument.
