Fagburn: Being Reasonable

I've spent today wondering if I should write something about two of the biggest gay stories of the last week, both of which I've pretty much ignored.
I did this on purpose; one was about something I have a general policy of not commenting on, the other I wrote little about beyond saying that it had happened - basically because that's all I knew.
There is something I really want to say about these, but it's probably best to make only a broader point.
Time and time over we have seen major news events where the public have clearly reached very different conclusions based not on assessing the available evidence, but which reflect their cultural allegiance or bias.
We all get very angry when we see the tabloids leaping to conclusions, but seem unaware that we can do this ourselves.
And Fagburn will happily admit I do it sometimes.
It gets sinister when you see emotion trumping reason in news reports - and when journalists write "authoratatively" about something they can know fuck-all about.
And when anyone doggedly clings to their gut instinct even after they become aware of facts which contradict it.
I wonder if this has a name?