Although imperfect, the U.S. justice system manages facts (evidence), allows for debate between the pros (prosecutor) and cons (defense) which then allows a jury to arrive at a decision. The Judge and appellate courts help ensure objectivity as much as possible. People have to have trust in the system. Surveys indicate that people do not have much trust in the mainstream media
Ideally, to “avoid” trials by gossip, journalists could take the lead in developing better standards. A first step would be to improve their knowledge of variation. For example, the majority of headlines that refer to numerical information are wrong or misleading at best.
Self-Assessment – Knowledge of Variation
