By Warren Nunn
2 The confusion | 3 The tension | 4 My vote | 5 Policy problems | 6 Handouts | 7 The needy | 8 Too much? | 9 The truth? | 10 The dissenters | 11 Intolerance | 12 Few decide
No 9: The problem of the metanarrative.
Who decides what is truth?
Some call it a metanarrative, which is roughly described as a “universal truth”. Who decides this “truth”? Of course, that’s where the problem starts.
But it is not journalism to slavishly follow any metanarrative, or whatever label anyone wants to put on it.
I submit that the media may have been a much bigger factor in the election outcome than all of the other matters raised.
When the media dissects politics it overwhelmingly paints a picture of outrage at how a party pushes a particular agenda. It’s as though the media decrees that the metanarrative has somehow been challenged, so it steps in like an umpire to close down the dissenters.
Again, that’s not journalism. That’s trying to tell people how they should think, not inform them of what the policy is. That needs to be stated in a neutral, matter-of-fact way.
It’s likely that few journalists really understand that and the responsibility that they have to provide that service.
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