Good Information

One of the characteristics of ‘good’ information identified earlier was that it should be ‘balanced’. In an ideal world, ‘objective’ or ‘balanced’ information would present all the evidence for and against, and leave you to WEIGH this up and draw 1. In the real world, however, we recognize that all information presents a position of interest, although this may not necessarily be intentional. Objectivity may therefore be an unachievable ideal. This means that the onus is on you as the reader and user of the information to develop a 2 awareness of the positions represented in what you read, and to take 3 of this when you interpret the information. In some cases, authors may explicitly express a particular viewpoint – this is perfectly valid as long as they are open about the perspective they represent. Hidden bias, whether or not it is 4, can be misleading.