Objectivity and other Impossible Endeavors

Meg Omecene

@megomecene

mo403411@ohio.edu

We all have bias. A project I did in high school sought to illuminate that bias.

For me, I found that I had a weak spot for environmental issues. I found it very difficult to criticize religious leaders. I found my weak spots -- and man, there were a lot of them. Everything from loving stories about babies, to being terrified at the sight of a gun plagued me as I tried to write my report.

And while I try to patch up the weak spots, the older I get, the stronger I find that my bias grows. For example, this summer I spent about six weeks in Israel. They were the best 39 days of my life, but now I have major bias about that section of the world. Before, I was very “Rah rah rah yay Israel,” and to an extent, I still am, but now I see the validity in the Palestinians plight. While I have a weak spot for my fellow students who had to live their lives in fear for so long because of terrorist attacks on their schools and bus routes, I also saw how painfully the Palestinians suffered from being constantly hounded by Israeli military, and I could not, in good conscience, ever condemn or praise one side over the other ever again.

Another large bias that I have is toward the Democratic party. When I was younger, I referenced the Affordable Care Act in conversation with my mother by using the term Obamacare. She corrected me: “That’s what ignorant people call it.”

I did not understand her reasoning; if something were called “Megcare,” I would be all for it. I think it is important to care for one another, and so does out president.

Obama’s spin masters saw this advantage. After a couple of years of shrinking from the term Obamacare, president Obama acknowledged the term during a presidential debate against challenger Mitt Romney. “Obama cares!” he exclaimed.

(Video courtesy CNN)

I think that the "Rethinking Objectivity" article brings up a good point. While journalists strive to have some sort of magic objectivity, that is often an impossibility. Like the article says, some writers do not even vote for fear of bias creeping into their work.

However, is that the most effective way to try to be a good journalist? Everything that we read tells us there is no such things as Truth (with a capital T). Should a journalist bypass one of the greatest American principles to try to find this elusive, or possibly non-existent, quality?

I think journalists should try to eliminate their most weighted bias as much as they possibly can, but they should also acknowledge that they are human. Just because I am voting for Obama does not mean that I will not criticize him for his inconsistencies, nor does it mean I will not praise Mitt Romney for his strong moral fiber.