COLUMBIA - We have a saying in the journalism business that a reporter should not get both sides of a story, but rather, they should get all sides.
Still some viewers believe a story Monday night about a controversial topic was extremely one-sided.
The two-part report featured confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. Pro-CAFO viewers thought the report was extremely fair. But those opposed to the confined animal feeding operations didn't feel like they got equal time.
"I've never read a more one-sided report of an issue. You should come up to La Plata and interview some of the people that live near Mrs. Chinn's operation east of town. Or, go to the Milan area and interview the people affected by the PFS operation. News reporting is supposed to be objective. This was far from it. Shame on you for calling it news and yourself a news organization," Dennis Hendren said.
But pro-CAFO supporter Vickie Raishe submitted a glowing review.
"I am sure you will get a lot of flak over the segment, but we do appreciate hearing the other side. It seams the negative voice gets heard a lot more than the positive voice. Thank you for sharing the positive voice," she said.
"The story deserves attention with the reporter and the editors and we are doing that, but the interesting observation from the big picture is the agricultural sources who feel bleaguered by a lot of negative stories thought it was great journalism because they perceived it as positive but their opponents thought it was horrible journalism and not negative enough," said KOMU News Director Stacey Woelfel. "So it is really reaching a point where stations find it tougher to find a balance that everybody will accept as good reporting."
If you'd like to comment about our coverage of CAFOs or anything else, just go to our website at KOMU.com and click on the "Your View" tab. Then watch Friday nights at Six as we report "Your View" of the news.