Just back from a wonderful motorcycle ride with Tenacious G and a friend who’s moved to New York but is back visiting (we stopped for a long time and enjoyed the incredible, rain-washed views from the intersection of Stunt and Saddle Peak), came home and picked up our L.A. Times.<\/p>\n
I usually read the funnies first, but media critic Tim Rutten’s column<\/a> (intrusive registration required, use ‘laexaminer’\/’laexaminer’) caught my eye. It is entitled ‘Fact or opinion? Yes, it really does matter<\/b>,’ and it’s a peach.<\/p>\n Here’s the money quote:<\/p>\n There is a certain kind of bright but brittle mind that loves this sort of either\/or thinking. What such minds cannot accept is the common-sensical notion that real life \u2014 including that of the press \u2014 is lived mostly in the pragmatic middle. There, experience has demonstrated that intellectual rigor and emotional self-discipline enable journalists to gather and report facts with an impartiality that \u2014 though sometimes imperfect \u2014 is good enough to serve the public’s interest in the generality of cases.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I have to go do chores, but will comment pretty extensively later in the day; meanwhile I’ll toss this out for your review, edification, and amusement.<\/p>\n