Domagoj Krpan & Boris Rački
University of Rijeka
According to David Coady, outright rejecting conspiracy theories without consideration is both an intellectual and moral failing. He believes that having such a type of skepticism towards official narrative is acceptable, but unchecked paranoia is wrong. Asking questions and looking further into official accounts of events should not right away stigmatize the person as a conspiracy theorist.
Journalists are expected to inform the public without bias or involving their personal political preferences. However, sometimes journalists do not pay much attention to some accusations because they go against their political views.
In case of Joe Biden’s health issues during his presidency, Trump and his supporters accused the Biden administration and the media of downplaying his failing health. These accusations were described as conspiracy theories. However, after the debate between Biden and Trump, Biden’s failing physical and mental capacity became world news. All of a sudden, the news agencies that had vigorously defended Biden’s narrative started to question it, and the conspiracy narrative became accepted. At the same time, the news agencies and journalists did not take full responsibility for downplaying this story for many years.
This paper will analyze how the integrity of researchers (journalists) could be compromised due to journalists’ personal preferences towards a particular political option. It will also analyze how to balance legitimate skepticism toward official narratives without entering into conspiracy theory. Finally, it will examine how personal political bias can be obstructive to ethical and professional integrity in the journalist profession.
Chair: tba
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Location:
SOPhiA 2026 