Category: campaign

In the early 1990s, when I was the science editor at the Associated Press, I covered the EPA's development of a report outlining the dangers of second-hand cigarette smoke. That kind of story begged for a comment from the Tobacco Institute, a group formed by the tobacco industry to respond to press inquiries. To cite just one example, a story I wrote about the EPA delaying release of the report sent me to the Tobacco Institute for comment. The comment was an assertion that said nothing substantial about the merits of the report. It did not provide balance. What it did provide was an opportunity for the industry to create doubt about the report. But the AP's editors would not allow me to write such a story without including industry comment. 

This is just one example of what reporters and others refer to as false balance--the requirement that stories...