The Trusted Opinion Project will host its first Free, Frank & Friendly Community Talk about Bias in the Media at 6 p.m. Thursday in the McAllen Public Library.
The goal of the project is to educate the public on the proper place for bias in journalism and try to regain their trust in news, said Chandra Bozelko, a syndicated columnist and founder of The Trusted Opinion Project, which aims to elevate “opinion journalism to improve the public’s trust in the news,” according to its website.
The website states McAllen; Tucson, Arizona; and Alpharetta, Georgia, “are in counties that the Columbia Journalism Review has identified, among others, as communities at risk of becoming news deserts–that is, they may lose local newspapers.”
Bozelko has won two Webby Awards for her blog, “Prison Diaries.” She said she was motivated to start the project last November due to confusion from her readers on when bias and opinion are appropriate in journalism.
“My experience was, writing opinion, that a lot of people, readers, would approach me and say, ‘You’re very biased on this issue,’ and I would say, ‘Yes, you’re right because I’m supposed to,’” she said. “I write opinion, I don’t do reported features … I’m supposed to take a stand.”
Opinion and bias in journalism is appropriate and essential in opinion pieces such as editorials and letters to the editor, Bozelko said.
Asked how the media can regain trust from the public she replied, “To properly label their opinion content so that people know what they’re reading, as they’re reading it. … If we had more people producing opinion and properly labeled it, people would come to understand where the bias is supposed to be, where it’s not supposed to be and then they’d all be able to call it out when they see it in the wrong place.”
The event will be part lecture and part facilitated discussion to encourage people to explain their experiences and complaints toward the media.
“If people want to understand better the news that they are consuming, they should come,” Bozelko said. “Also, we really value the opinions and comments that people make. So I think it’s going to be a really positive event for everybody.”
During the event, attendees will be entered in a drawing for an iPad.
The McAllen Public Library is located at 4001 N. 23rd St. The next community talk for The Trusted Opinion project will be held Feb. 27 in Tucson, Arizona, followed by Alpharetta, Georgia, on April 6.
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