Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
Via Eschaton comes a link to this interesting article on Al Gore. Interesting quote:
Gore's first lecture engaged objectivity itself, challenging the journalistic trope that fairness resides in controversy and an article has to represent all sides -- no matter how marginal -- equally. Instead, Gore argued that the journalistic impulse to exalt even the most fringe views to parity in order to furnish opposing perspectives is harmful to basic accuracy. This didn't sit well with more than a few of the wannabe reporters in the class, many of whom were aghast at the suggestion that the media should attempt to actually mediate between truth and spin. As Josh Bearman, a student in that class and now an editor at the LA Weekly, recalls it, "He stood up there challenging the entire dogma of the journalism school. First semester, you learned that objectivity was emperor, then Gore came in and told you it had no clothes."
Get em Al!
The article is a fascinating insight into what Al Gore has been doing lately and can be found here.
Comments
Presenting inequality as equality is what passes for objectivity? So if I want to say that I'm just as tall as Shaq, it would be "objective" to let me have my say without pointing out the fact that I'm 12 inches shorter?
I think that maybe the word "parity" might be key and I'm alarmed that a journalism student either didn't notice it or didn't know what it means.
Posted by: pough | March 21, 2006 12:58 PM
They do not practice objectivity. They practice neutrality. They just call it objectivity. In practice it is just the inability to take a position of fact.
Posted by: steve s | March 21, 2006 1:13 PM
It all comes down to power. The power to increase their wealth, to influence public opinion, to influence their popularity, etc. Little things like facts, fairness, objectivity, responsibility, relevance, etc. are easily cast aside in their pursuit of such much finer goals.
Posted by: Darrell | March 22, 2006 10:34 AM
"First semester, you learned that objectivity was emperor, then Gore came in and told you it had no clothes."
I don't think he should use that word, it doesn't mean what he thinks it means.
Posted by: gibbon | March 24, 2006 3:57 AM