Facts! demanded the awful Gradgrind

in Charles Dickens's Hard Times. Today, I'll be your Gradgrind.

I draw your attention to this fine first post at Chef Shalom's Rockin' Blog (you have to love the title). No really. You have to. I insist.

This post is in many ways just the sort of thing I'm looking for to start -- for you all to begin to think about which stories are reported (and which are not), and how they are reported.

But as a social scientist, I am always most convinced by the careful marshalling of evidence that leads me to a conclusion, and less persuaded by mere assertion, or the repetition of "conventional wisdom" (what everybody supposedly knows to be true).

As we move forward, think about whether you are providing the reader with enough information, and the clear, causal logic to sustain your claim. So, to take one example, Chef writes:

the NYTimes has focused its headlines mainly on the images in Lebanon

Maybe true, maybe not. I don't know, because the good Chef offers the reader no evidence to support the claim, nor does he share with us the thinking that leads him to this conclusion. Maybe he's right, maybe he's partly right, maybe he's wrong.

So, as a social scientist, I would say to the Chef, and to all of you: unlike many questions we concern ourselves with (can war be just? what should the tax rate be? who should be the next President?) there is a "right" answer to this question. We can know this. How?

Here's one way:

• choose a logical period of time that does not skew (bias) your selection;
• examine all photos/headlines of the events in question (see Nexis, in the library's database collection -- it's easy to use, and fun for the whole family!);
• count and categorize them as fairly as you can (in a way that as few as possible fair-minded people would disagree with). Even better, have someone else count and categorize them, too: do you arrive at essentially the same conclusion?;
• examine your evidence.
  

What are the results? What's the answer? Did Chef get it right?

To paraphrase Cuba Gooding in Jerry Mcguire, "Show me the data! Show. . .me. . . the. . . data!"

All that said, to Chef (apologies for picking on him a bit -- but everyone will get their turn!): excellent start. Keep going!