Bias in the Media

by Alexandra Corsi

ac986013@ohio.edu

“Objectivity is seeing the world as it is, not how you wish it were.” – Michael Bugeja, journalism professor at Iowa State University

What is objectivity?

My first encounter with the idea of objectivity dates back to high school biology lab, during which my teacher explained to us that true objectivity does not exist because you must be interested in something – which shows some subjectivity towards the topic – in order to decide to study it in the first place. In the journalism world, the idea of objectivity is so unclear that even the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) acknowledged the fact that there is not just one definitive truth; instead, SPJ notes that the primary job of journalists is to “seek truth and report it,” not simply seek the truth, which they removed from their ethical code in 1996, according to Brent Cunningham of the Columbia Journalism Review.

Blurring the lines

Various news organizations have been criticized for being “too conservative” or “too liberal.” These political labels have especially been thrown around in the coverage of the Ferguson shootings. In his article "Grading the Media on Ferguson Coverage," journalist Alan Krawitz gives the media a grade of C- in terms of objectivity in the coverage of the Ferguson shootings. Too many news outlets, he writes, “blurred the lines” between serving as an objective third party and acting as an advocate for one side.

He does acknowledge, however, the effectiveness with which the media has scrutinized police forces not just in Ferguson but all over the country. Ferguson coverage has been an incredible example of the watchdog responsibility of journalism, which Krawitz notes is “one of journalism’s most important jobs.” And who else other than the media is going to somewhat regulate what the government does when there are no other overpowering organizations to set the standards?

The verdict

Personally, I believe the goal of media is to report information so the public can analyze for themselves. But sometimes, in order for journalists to make sense of the news, they have to present "sides" on the issue. However, if this is done correctly, the journalist will not take sides but instead present all sides of the issue so the public can then decide themselves on which side they will take. Exclusively watching and reading completely biased news – whether it is politically biased or otherwise – is a recipe for unbreakable close-mindedness, and we can never solve the world’s issues if we do not have open minds. After all, the SPJ code of ethics says, “Boldly tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience.” How else can we as journalists do this if we don't provide all aspects of a story?