Russ Baker’s The
Squeeze Research Report
As citizens in a
democracy we have a responsibility to be informed about the world around us so
that we may effectively contribute to the democratic process. Furthermore, we
have a responsibility to analyze the information presented to us for bias and
inaccuracies in order to stay better informed. In his article The Squeeze in the September/October
1997 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, Russ Baker details recent
developments in the ongoing conflict between advertisers, publishers, and
editors. The piece suggests that advertisers, led by the advertising juggernaut
Chrysler, seek to gain unnecessary control over the content of the publications
they advertise in. Because this piece deals with advertising bias and based on
Baker’s distinguished career as an investigative journalist and his non-profit
blog, it is evident that the piece is biased in that in seeks to promote
unbiased reporting as a necessary value of journalism.
Baker’s career as
a hugely successful investigative journalist suggests a bias towards the
principles of journalism, namely unbiased reporting and a wall between
advertising and editorial. Baker is a freelance journalist who received a
Masters Degree in Journalism from Columbia has written for various US
publications such as the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times,
the Washington Post, and Vanity Fair, among others. Furthermore
he his work appeared in numerous international publications in Europe, Asia,
Africa and the Caribbean. Therefore it is evident that he is an experienced
journalist and thoroughly understands the principles of journalism. Because the
article is discussing how advertising is affecting the editing of magazines and
newspapers, it is reasonable to believe that Baker has some bias toward
advocating for the content of publications to be unaffected by advertisers.
Furthermore, Baker
founded the blog WhoWhatWhy.com, a non-profit news publication, which suggest a
bias towards non-profit journalism that is relevant in his piece regarding
advertising’s affect on the content of publications. Baker said that he started
the blog because he was, “tired of the cynicism, self-interest, and cowardice
that I witnessed in the news media.” The blog focuses on non-biased reporting
of the truth, and in an effort to remain non-biased, is a non-profit
publication with no advertisers. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that
Baker is inclined to advocate for publications being independent from
advertisers, and thus is a biased source on the topic of the wall between
publishing and editorial.
It is hard to
overlook Baker’s bias as an advocate for non-biased, advertising independent
news publications, or the fact that this bias is relevant to the piece in
question. However, it seems that a bias towards being non-biased, is not a bad
bias to have. I think that despite Baker’s biases, he is a credible source and
this report can be trust on face value.
References
Baker, R. (2013, 09 23). Russbaker.com.
Retrieved from http://russbaker.com
Engel, M. (2013, 09 23). Who
what why. Retrieved from http://whowhatwhy.com
Russ, B. (2013, March 21). Russ
baker on huffpost. Huffington Post. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russ-baker/
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