Two sides of a coin.

Two posts on the same topic, dealing with almost the same facts:

from 'The Economist'
&
from 'The Hindu'

I have always had high regard for these two print houses. Have found them both to be objective, and their reporting to be largely without prejudice. Have trusted them to show me the 'complete picture' without coloring it. In short, have relied on them to give me a fair, unbiased view of the world I live in.
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I do not say news should be bland without opinions. Opinions are OK. They are often even good, because they can be thought provoking.
Nor do I say newspapers should not take sides. They can, and sometimes even should. In complete darkness or unknown terrain, a torch shown in either direction can help.

But before expressing opinions or taking sides, I believe newspapers have a duty, an obligation to present facts for what they are, and base these opinions or bias on these facts. So that the informed reader, depending on his own leaning can make his own choice, either to concur, or differ with the opinion expressed or bias taken. Mixing opinions and facts, and presenting the former in the garb of the latter can be very harmful. It can color the mind of the gullible reader and can cause a serious loss of credibility in the mind of the informed one.
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As I read the first article, I get the uncomfortable, sad feeling that The Economist has goofed up on this count. And in the process, has fallen short of the high standards it had set for itself and I had expected of it.
The Hindu on the contrary, in my opinion, has a much more mature handling of the topic on hand here. It has presented facts and opinions, trying to substantiate each one of the latter with some of the former. And on top, the entire article features in the 'Opinions' section of the paper. I must say I feel privileged to have grown up reading this paper.

I will not stop reading the Economist going ahead, but I will have to force myself to exercise more caution in getting judgemental based on what I read there. However I do hope The Hindu will continue showing me both sides of the coin going ahead too.