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Q&A Difference between News Analysis and Opinion?

It might be useful to compare this to what doctors do. Doctors first establish symptoms. These are the facts of the case. Notice that it is possible to miss or discount a symptom. The data being ga...

posted 4y ago by Mark Baker‭

Answer
#1: Initial revision by user avatar Mark Baker‭ · 2020-02-14T20:02:39Z (about 4 years ago)
It might be useful to compare this to what doctors do. Doctors first establish symptoms. These are the facts of the case. Notice that it is possible to miss or discount a symptom. The data being gathered is factual in nature, but that does not guarantee that it is complete or accurate. Even gathering basic data requires skill and attention, and a nose for what is significant in a particular case. 

They then perform diagnosis. They analyse the symptoms to try to determine what is causing the symptoms. This is a more or less rigorous process, usually with an established method that has been tested and is considered superior to other methods. It is still, however, an exercise of judgment. It goes beyond the raw facts to extrapolate an explanation that fits the facts. But it is subject to errors in judgement or method. There is no guarantee that the diagnosis is correct and two different doctors looking at the same set of symptoms may, and often do, arrive at different diagnoses. 

Then they prescribe treatment. Now they are going beyond the collection and interpretation of evidence. They are recommending action. In doing so, they may consider things other than the symptoms and the diagnosis. Different treatments may affect the patient's way of life in different ways. Some treatment options may be considered unethical or immoral. The doctor may have a vested interest in one treatment over another (kickbacks from a drug company, maintaining their survival rate statistics). 

As you can see, a simple objective/subjective model does not fit this process. There is room for bias and incompetence and ideological difference at every stage of the medical treatment process. 

So it is with journalism. There is reporting (gathering symptoms), analysis (diagnosing the problem) and opinion (recommending solutions). There is more room for differences between journalists to affect outcomes as you go from reporting to analysis to opinion, just as there is when doctors go from symptoms to diagnosis to prescription. But none of these processes is entirely objective or subjective.