When a small-town newspaper reporter in rural Michigan left a voicemail requesting an interview with a Republican Senate candidate following the Nov. 6 midterm election in the United States, she likely hadn’t anticipated the message would result in the termination of her employment. But Brenda Battel was fired from the Huron Daily Tribune after the candidate’s campaign released the audio from Battel’s message – in which the reporter, believing the call to be disconnected, is heard saying, “Man, if he beats [Democratic candidate]…that would suck.” Unsurprisingly, the recording has caused an uproar among conservative outlets and Republican supporters, who have latched on to Battel’s inadvertent comment as evidence of what they claim is a persistent liberal bias in the mainstream media. And – even as a writer – I don’t have the words to express how sick I am of hearing this phrase. Reporters are not robots (even though I sometimes refer to myself as one). We are human beings, with thoughts and opinions and beliefs. We’re even allowed to voice our thoughts and opinions and beliefs in print, sometimes, like I’m doing right now with this column. We’re also citizens. We own homes, pay taxes, support local charities – and we vote, for the candidates we feel will best represent our interests and needs in the political arena. Battel’s unfortunate voicemail was a mistake. I’ve certainly had my fair share of embarrassing slip-ups with technology, and I’m sure I can expect many, many more in the future – I think we can all identify with that. But Battel is welcome to support whichever political candidate she chooses, so long as her beliefs don’t influence her coverage. And, according to Battel, she’s never had anyone point out an instance of bias in her reporting. “While reporting the news, journalists must put their opinions aside and focus on facts. I was not reporting the news when I made derogatory comments about [Republican candidate] and his campaign,” she told The Washington Post. “But while doing my job, which was to gather and report the facts, I did not let my opinions interfere with telling the truth. I proved that in every news article I wrote for the Huron Daily Tribune.” A biased reporter will twist the facts of a story to suit the narrative they’re looking to present – feeding their readers a specific version of what they claim is the “truth.” Good journalism, on the other hand, offers enough information from both sides of an issue to let readers build their own understanding of what the truth of the matter actually is. That doesn’t mean the person writing it doesn’t have their own opinions about it, though. And, as an opinionated, somewhat robot-like human who spent the last several years covering politics on a smaller scale, I can attest to that. But, maybe that’s just my opinion.
