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Media Transparency, or Lack Thereof

The The International Center for Media and the Public Agenda has released a fascinating and valuable study of transparency at 25 major journalism organizations with global or otherwise widespread audiences:

A majority of the public believes the media can’t be trusted. Which global news sites are most transparent about their operations? Not necessarily the ones you would think….

The Guardian ranked at the top of the 16 sites surveyed, with the New York Times next. Rupert Murdoch’s Sky News ranked last, below Time magazine.

It seems to me that the survey has a flaw, however. Consider that the Economist and Fox News rank relatively low. But because I already know their world views, which they do not disguise (even though Fox News continues to offer its patently false slogan of “fair and balanced”), I put that world view into the lens through which I see their reports.

By having a world view and being biased toward it, they are somewhat transparent in a helpful way. The survey doesn’t take that into account.

The next time the researchers do this study, they should consider adding this variable. The results might change.

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