{"id":361222,"date":"2021-03-31T17:15:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T21:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=361222"},"modified":"2021-03-31T17:15:42","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T21:15:42","slug":"nbc-news-anchor-fairness-is-overrated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nbc-news-anchor-fairness-is-overrated\/","title":{"rendered":"NBC News Anchor: \u2018Fairness Is Overrated\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnbc-news-anchor-fairness-is-overrated%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=361222&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fb_image-4882.jpeg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt says \u201cfairness is overrated\u201d and the news media no longer needs to present both sides of a given story.<\/p>\n<p>Holt, who was this week awarded the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism from Washington State University, waxed poetic on the news media, at one point declaring that \u201cit\u2019s become clearer that fairness is over-rated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore you run off and tweet that headline, let me explain a bit,\u201d he&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AWIbAKI9PSA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">said<\/a>. \u201cThe idea that we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in. That the sun sets in the west is a fact. Any contrary view does not deserve our time or attention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Holt said \u201cyou won\u2019t have to look far to find more current and relevant examples,\u201d noting misinformation about the 2020 presidential election and COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>And the anchor said there\u2019s no longer any need for a journalist to give both sides of a story equal weight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDecisions to not give unsupported arguments equal time are not a dereliction of journalistic responsibility or some kind of agenda. In fact, it\u2019s just the opposite,\u201d Holt said. \u201cProviding an open platform for misinformation, for anyone to come say whatever they want, especially when issues of public health and safety are at stake, can be quite dangerous. Our duty is to be fair to the truth. Holding those in power accountable is at the core of our function and responsibility. We need to hear our leader\u2019s views, their policies, and reasoning. It\u2019s really important. But we have to stand ready to push back and call out falsehoods.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Holt has served as the anchor of NBC Nightly News since 2015, having joined the network in 2000 and working as a co-host of \u201cToday\u201d and other NBC news programs.<\/p>\n<p>The anchor also talked about an evolution of major media companies, which have to win the trust of their audiences even as they report \u201cuncomfortable truths.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And he acknowledged the fact that a departure from the objectivity once represented in journalism could \u201creinforce negative sentiment some hold to journalists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat we have had to be more direct in our language in recent times only speaks to the volume and gravity of&nbsp;particular&nbsp;statements&nbsp;and claims,\u201d&nbsp;Holt said. \u201cFact-checking is not a vendetta or attack. We all have a stake in us getting it right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must help our audiences understand what our role is in a healthy democracy. Because if we\u2019re not asking the right questions, who is?\u201d he said. \u201cImagine, if you would, what the pandemic would look like without the media holding leaders to account for vaccines rollouts or countering harmful misinformation or why some communities are being left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRegard for truth must regain a foothold in our society so that we can weather the storms of tomorrow\u2019s calamities, tomorrow\u2019s pandemics,\u201d Holt added.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">member<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt says \u201cfairness is overrated\u201d and the news media no longer needs to present both sides of a given story.Holt, who was this week awarded &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2311474,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fb_image-4882.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"NBC News Anchor: \u2018Fairness Is Overrated\u2019","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-361222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fb_image-4882.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"NBC News Anchor: \u2018Fairness Is Overrated\u2019","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2311474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}