Otterblog

We had a good debate this afternoon about a story running on the wires about a conference in Iran that is a collection of Holocaust deniers. Yes, there are people out there in the world who continue to insist that this tragedy never took place. This story, published electronically, and soon to be published the old-fashioned way in many newspapers, raises good questions about the limits of objectivity and the idea of balancing different beliefs.

The debate focused about whether a story on a bunch of holocaust deniers—including David Duke—ought to run anywhere. Point being, the standard narrative of journalism frequently has person A saying one thing, and person B saying another. Often, the sense of weight or proportionality gets lost, and you’re left with an on the one hand, on the other approach that fails to recognize the intellectual, scientific or historical imbalance of the arguments.

My guess is that if this conference was in Singapore or Barcelona, we would kill it. But it’s in Iran, which has been singled out—along with Syria—by the Iraq Study Group as our new partners of sorts in finding a solution for war in Iraq. It was organized by the president of Iran, and it indicates who we will be dealing with in the months ahead.

Making a list: The AP this time of year sends out its lists of top news stories for the state and the nation and the world. If you’ve got ideas for stories that ought to be on our local top 10 list, let me know. Could be Wake’s ACC win, shakeup on the county commissioners, the school bonds, etc.