"News still is synonymous with rumor, however it is also synonymous with report at the same time. "
True, but in all such cases rumors are identified as rumors. No reporter is going to go and pass a rumor as a solid news story if he cannot verify it through two or more independent sources. And he's only going to report a rumor (identifying it as such) if there's some solid reason to do so: some element of truth or some inherent importance to the overall story.
"The term "Yellow Journalism" was coined in the late 1800s, over the news' behavior in reporting the Spanish-American War."
Which was 120 or so years ago. Surely we expect any professional or ethical standards to be consistent with present day journalistic practices? If we're going to compare ourselves to standards of 'yellow journalism', then we're certainly making a statement there!
And I'm not even insisting upon strict Woodward-Bernstein journalistic practices here; I realize this is just a blog/newsite kind of thing rather than the Washington Post. But even so I do expect a common-sense approach and attitude to posts. Whatever the intent may be, this IS the closest thing the fandom has to a standard newssource, and as such there is an expectation that the posts be delivered fairly and without bias. And with maybe a few less April Fools' jokes. (One was sufficient.)
"News and opinion are not antonyms"
No, but fact and opinion are.
"News still is synonymous with rumor, however it is also synonymous with report at the same time. "
True, but in all such cases rumors are identified as rumors. No reporter is going to go and pass a rumor as a solid news story if he cannot verify it through two or more independent sources. And he's only going to report a rumor (identifying it as such) if there's some solid reason to do so: some element of truth or some inherent importance to the overall story.
"The term "Yellow Journalism" was coined in the late 1800s, over the news' behavior in reporting the Spanish-American War."
Which was 120 or so years ago. Surely we expect any professional or ethical standards to be consistent with present day journalistic practices? If we're going to compare ourselves to standards of 'yellow journalism', then we're certainly making a statement there!
And I'm not even insisting upon strict Woodward-Bernstein journalistic practices here; I realize this is just a blog/newsite kind of thing rather than the Washington Post. But even so I do expect a common-sense approach and attitude to posts. Whatever the intent may be, this IS the closest thing the fandom has to a standard newssource, and as such there is an expectation that the posts be delivered fairly and without bias. And with maybe a few less April Fools' jokes. (One was sufficient.)