If you’ve participated in the jury selection process, you’re certainly familiar with the questions the judge asks to determine whether you might bring a bias to the case. I’ve sat through jury selection — or voir dire — four, maybe five times in my life.
Every time I’ve done it, I think how exhausting it must get for the judge to keep asking those same questions before every trial: “What are your hobbies?” “Do you have a bumper sticker on your car?” “Where do you get your news?”
I remember one time when I served in Hudson County, New Jersey, an older man answered that last question, “The Journal.” When the judge asked if he meant The Wall Street Journal, he responded, “No. The Jersey Journal!” Several people laughed out loud.
So yesterday, when I found myself once again sitting through the questioning, it occurred to me the answers to “Where do you get your news?” have changed dramatically in the 20+ years I’ve been called upon for jury duty. Sure, some jurors said they get their news from local television stations — a lot more than I would have predicted, actually — and others mentioned daily newspapers. But most gave answers like, “The news finds me,” or “Whatever people email me.” Also popular were, “My phone,” or “The web.”
What was surprising was that the judge didn’t follow up on those generic answers to ask for clarification. Saying you get your news over your phone offers no visibility into whether you are bringing a bias into the courtroom — except, perhaps, that you prefer mobile over desktop.
When will these questions evolve to reflect the way people consume news in 2015? Even if the judge asked for clarification, I think this question has become too difficult for most people to answer spontaneously. We may know we’ve read a story or watched a video, but we struggle to recall the source because of the many ways content is served up to us.
Quick: Where do you get your news?