EDITORIAL: hMAG’s Well-Documented Media Bias

EDITORIAL
by Christopher M. Halleron

Yesterday we published a piece covering the Mayor of Hoboken’s social media—a piece in which we cited our very own first-hand evidence of a misstep by the administration.

In the minutes that followed, we received numerous phone calls, emails and messages questioning the fairness of the piece—a piece in which we cited our very own first-hand evidence.

In the hours that followed, we were taunted on social media and accused of harboring a bias against the Mayor for publishing the piece—a piece in which we cited our very own first-hand evidence.

We’ve been asked about our political affiliations, financial arrangements or other personal information that might constitute a conflict of interest in publishing that piece—a piece in which we cited our very own first-hand evidence.

.@hMAG would you like to declare to the audience any political affiliations, financial arrangements or other personal information that might constitute a conflict of interest? #hoboken

— Change Hoboken (@ChangeHoboken) August 22, 2018

We’ve been accused of being negative for publishing a piece—a piece in which we cited our very own first-hand evidence.

Your credibility took years to earn… don’t wanna lose it. Negativity can all too easily become a bad habit (e.g. @Hoboken411)

— Change Hoboken (@ChangeHoboken) August 22, 2018

Any media professional reading this will shrug it off—like a Hoboken resident shrugs off a parking ticket or a water main break… it’s just one of those things you deal with. But given the volume and source of the accusations, we’d like to point out a few things.

Under its current management, hMAG has NEVER taken any money for political advertising—from ANY candidates, parties, committees or other political entity. How many other local media news outlets can say that?

We’ve made that arguably self-defeating decision because we’ve been around long enough to observe the trench warfare, divide-and-conquer mudslinging of Hudson County politics. We’ve endeavored to keep our noses as clean as we can, and we cover what we can—Hudson County arts, culture, nightlife, breaking news, and occasionally politics.

So why did we run a piece covering the Mayor of Hoboken’s social media—a piece in which we cited our very own first-hand evidence of a misstep by the administration?

Because he’s the Mayor of Hoboken—and we had our very own first-hand evidence of a misstep by the administration.

We were in the process of sharing the Mayor’s post to inform readers—as we so often do—when we noticed the misstep. To have the Mayor’s brother—the very person who admitted to making the error—then smear us with an accusation of media bias illustrates an unfortunate disrespect for our organization and the media in general.

The mere fact that you don’t like a story doesn’t make it biased. That’s a tactic that is currently being played out at the highest levels of government in this nation. It exhibits an immaturity and unwillingness to accept responsibility that is endemic in this nation’s leadership at every level.

Then there’s the whataboutism, where people point out the shortcomings of their rivals—as if all politics is simply a race to the bottom. No, hMAG doesn’t cover every single political squabble here in Hudson County because that would be exhausting… for staff and readers alike. We do, however, cover stories where we have our very own first-hand evidence. Because that’s what media organizations are supposed to do.

If you’re a political entity and you want to see less coverage of your mistakes, then make fewer mistakes. It’s just that simple. Politicians and their teams should consider holding themselves to a high standard before taking swipes at media professionals who are simply doing their job.

We’ve gotten things wrong before, and will likely do so in the future. But we don’t fabricate news—because stoking the internet with false praise and/or condemnation is unethical, no matter who does it.

As for the sniping comments on our integrity, we fully recognize that acknowledgement will only invite more of the same. That’s fine—you keep doing what you’re doing, and we’ll keep doing what we’re doing.

Let’s all just try to do better.

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Christopher M. Halleron is the Publisher/Editor of hMAG.
As a columnist and journalist, he has covered various aspects of life here in the ‘greater Hoboken area’ and beyond for the past two decades.
His opinions are his own.