Cancel the paper when you hate the story?

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As long as human beings report the stories and human photographers snap the pictures, there can be no such thing as a clean, objective account of an event. Editors look at dozens of photos and pick one for the front page. Why this one instead of that one? That in itself is a bias — and often the editors will go for the grabby, dramatic picture even when it rubs at raw nerves.

We can cancel our subscriptions, but it might be more productive to read with a critical eye, question everything, write letters, and know that any account of fighting in the Middle East has the power to divide and alienate readers. The conflict is biblical; it should not surprise us that we are enraged by newspaper accounts of a struggle that may outlive all the men and women who cover the story.

Copyright © 2014 Randi Kreiss. Randi can be reached at randik3@aol.com.

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