Antionette's Column: Rumors, Confirmation Bias, Cancellations and Celebrations
Oh my! It was another big week for the Davidson Local team. Reporting the news is always exciting for our staff but the past few weeks added an extra layer of education.
Cancellations: Due to unexpected circumstances, we had to cancel a Labor Day event celebrating local workers and families. We love local workers and plan to reschedule for Spring 2023! We will also partner with FREE community events this Fall!
Celebrations: Kassaundra Lockhart and two of our team members attended the North Carolina Press Association Annual meeting and awards on Thursday, August 25. The team traveled to Raleigh for the 149th Annual North Carolina Press Association Convention and Awards Banquet. It was our first time represented at the event.
An awards banquet presented honors to two staffers. Intern Sidney Briggs won second place in the serious columns division for her piece about COVID-19. Former writer and photographer James Kiefer was awarded second place in sports photography for the pictures he took during the delay of the Lexington vs. Thomasville football game last April.
In the afternoon session, Kassaundra reported as representatives from Stevens Martin Vaughn & Tadych, PLLC informed those in attendance about the latest developments regarding open government meetings, access and transparency.
This leads me to the next topic: Confirmation bias, a term I learned very little about in my studies of journalism twenty-plus years ago. Social media, 24-hour news cycles, our favorite “talking heads” clearly play an impact. Our team sees this play out almost any time we cover government and hot political topics.
It’s not unique to Davidson Local. The definition from the American Psychological Association: Psychology. noun bias that results from the tendency to process and analyze information in such a way that it supports one’s preexisting ideas and convictions.
Here is our most recent example: A few weeks ago, we addressed a rumor spreading throughout our local community and social media. Note: My grandmother would have challenged me about this coverage… if she were alive. I imagine she would say, “You can’t chase down rumors.” We never chased down the origin. Our hyperlocal team tried after the team received several phone calls, texts and emails about a closed session special called meeting of the Lexington City Council related to personnel. Probably the most questions about one meeting since we have been in business.
We held an editorial team discussion about whether or not to report on the issue. We knew the meeting was happening due to the notice of a public record. We also knew we could not legally obtain details or official comments from elected officials, but it’s still our job to ask for an official statement. More than three of us concluded it was our job, as hyperlocal news, to first try to confirm if the rumor was true. As someone who makes public information requests weekly, I wrote the first story knowing we could not legally know that answer. I appreciate it when a public official, like Lexington Mayor Jason Hayes, quoted a statute about why they can’t legally respond. My training says that information belongs to the public unless you can tell us otherwise. Then, we had to debate publishing a letter circulating on social media.
For now, social media is fair game (yes, even if your page is private). We declined to publish the exact post in this case. The letter in question was not sent to DL as a “letter to the editor. “
For me, the greatest challenge and choice was affirmed at the aforementioned presentations at the NCPA. Almost every national, state and local public official finds themselves at odds with those of us seeking public information. Information belongs to the public, and while people are quick to say, “Contact your elected officials with your opinions,” in many cases of local news, people don’t know things are happening until they are over. Needless to say, people feel strongly about our local governing bodies and those in service.
From our coverage related to the school board, to commissioners, to forums, people often spend time trying to guess the reporters’ angle rather than reading the text. We’ve since had some heated conversations with folks who assumed the stories written had a bias or intention. In some cases when it was a collective effort that read Davidson Local, people assumed who the unnamed authors were and assigned bias.
Confirmation Bias of the reader plays a major role in assuming we are picking a side. We welcome such criticism and feedback. In fact, countless calls affirm we shared a balanced story. It would be our dream if “both sides” did not make assumptions about the leanings of reporters or our editorial team. But that’s not new in the news business. Confirmation Bias was coined in the 1960s. For now, we will accept it that if both sides could feel like we are biased toward the other we are still fulfilling our “hyper” mission.
Local is our only bias! We were reminded about the importance of this by friends at our Press Pass Dinner a few Saturday evenings ago. It was a moment of food, celebration and sharing with friends and family! We look for more opportunities to share with readers.
You can always email us at info@davidsonlocal.com.
As always, thank you for reading!
