Monitor Night Live Asks, “Can We Trust the Media?”

On February 24, Principia College welcomed the editor and staff writers from the Pulitzer-prize winning newspaper The Christian Science Monitor for the 22nd Monitor Night Live. More than 1,000 online viewers from around the world joined the live audience in Wanamaker Hall.

The evening’s topic, “Can We Trust the Media? Journalism in an Unfiltered Social Media World," tackled media literacy head on by delving into the issues of trust, honesty, and nuance in journalism.

College President John Williams hosted the panel conversation with Monitor Editor Mark Sappenfield and correspondents Story Hinckley (national politics), Stephanie Hanes (environment and climate change), and Noah Robertson (Washington Bureau). Sappenfield kicked off the discussion by responding to President Williams’ introduction about bias in the media.

“We’ve seen a lot of people in the media say, ‘This is our bias and we’re going to wear it on our sleeve,’ Sappenfield says. “That’s new and makes a lot of sense because you should know where they’re coming from.” However, he noted, this approach can lead to polarization.

Sappenfield said the Monitor tries to be a conduit for people who want to challenge their biases, to allow them the “largeness of heart and mind to be a little more flexible and begin to see out from someone else’s perspective.”

The panelists discussed the importance of recognizing their own biases in their reporting and how applying fairness is integral to building trust with their sources and the audience.

Hinckley spoke to fairness as “accurately portraying the scene, acting as a vessel for the readers,” and “making sure the story is balanced.”

The panelists went on to detail the amount of research that is required to report a fair and balanced story.

“There’s so much research that goes into just being able to have the conversations and ask real questions—to understand what you’re hearing and where you might want to challenge,” Hanes added.

Robertson understands people’s skepticism of the media and unpacked the responsibility he feels as a journalist to build a relationship with a source and create an accurate account. He detailed his approach as being “honest about the angle you take, humble when you don’t know what you’re doing,” and doing “as much research as you can.”

When President Williams asked how one should approach news consumption in today’s environment, panelists told the audience to pay attention to sources (who is being quoted). They suggested inspecting the piece for professional rigor and recognizing whether the reader feels incited by it. If it makes one feel angry, justified, or affirmed, it most likely lacks the nuance of an unbiased report.

“No one has ever said that nuance sells, but usually the truth is in the nuance,” Sappenfield noted. “We need to do nuance, but we need to do it in a compelling way.”

“I think the way you do it is to tell human stories. People are inherently interested in other people.” Hinckley added.

The event concluded with panelists answering questions from the audience and summarizing some of the ways in which one can search for truth in the media. Looking for a sense of thoughtfulness, intelligence, rigor, tone, humility, empathy, fairness, nuance, and respect were at the top of the list.

A recording of this year’s Monitor Night Live is available to all. The event was followed by a Journalism Bootcamp for College Students on February 25. A collaboration of The Christian Science Monitor and the Mass Communication Department at Principia College, it included hands-on journalism workshops and talks with distinguished Monitor writers and editors.