The power of opinion

The McAllen Public Library opened its doors last Thursday to The Trusted Opinion Project to talk to the community about bias in the media.

The Trusted Opinion Project is a pilot program that seeks to understand why opinion journalism is important to news and why it helps prevent bias in reporting, according to its website.

The event was presented by Chandra Bozelko, a syndicated columnist for GateHouse Media, and Nancy Colasurdo, a freelance journalist. The Trusted Opinion Project was founded by The Facebook Journalism Project and The Lenfest Institute.

“It’s very important,” Colasurdo said. “We want people to become just way more aware and informed of their power in opinion journalism. Basically, the mission is to educate people and get them to trust opinions. We really want people to consume opinion journalism in the way that it was intended.”

Nancy Colasurdo responds to an audience member during a discussion about bias within the media at The Trusted Opinion Project event hosted at the McAllen Public Library last Thursday.

The event began with a discussion regarding if people believed if there was bias in the media. Most people in the room raised their hands and they presented examples to explain their reasons.

Later, Bozelko and Colasurdo explained why there was a need for opinion in journalism. People need to read opinions when they need to evaluate facts or they need to make a decision.

The session also engaged in different topics, such as the reason why news is becoming more subjective and who writes an opinion in journalism. The two explained that people can find opinion journalism online, on television, radio and in the newspaper.

“The main goal was just to inform people of what … they are consuming,” Bozelko said. “The ultimate point of all of this is, not only to inform people, but also to get them to go get that training at The OpEd Project and have them become part of the conversation.”

The Trusted Opinion Project also encourages guests to participate in The OpEd Project.

According to its website, this project is a think tank and leadership organization that accelerated the ideas and impact of underrepresented voices.

The event will take place from 9:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 28 and 29, the place is yet to be determined.

For more information, visit www.theopendproject.org.