How a desire to tell stories can lead to bad journalism

Psychologists and sociologists tell us that storytelling is a powerful tool in part because it plays into our innate human desire for narrative, and many journalists have used this power to create effective and powerful journalism that sheds light on important topics. However, this same desire to tell stories can lead to journalism that distorts the truth in the interests of supplying common storytelling elements — a hero, a villain, a moral, etc. — that may not exist. In the process of forcing events and issues into this convenient mold, journalists often eliminate the nuances of complex events and situations, encouraging readers to see them as black and white, with simple causes and simple solutions. This can leave audiences worse off than they were before, with less understanding of how events came to occur, or of the factors that are required to arrive at a solution.
Moderated by Mathew Ingram.