Mallory Jones
mj710116@ohio.edu
In an article about media objectivity, Emmanuel Perilla claims that for media to be objective, they must criticize and highlight important facts and information relevant to the American public. It is up to the journalist to decide what, how, and where they will share the information that he or she gathers. Whether it be on social media or televised news, the journalist still has to follow a standard set of ethics codes.
It is no shock that a journalist gets excited about the content they have collected, and sometimes it is easy for them to get carried away, sharing too much information. He or she can spend weeks, even months, on one story. It is not an easy task trying to decide what is still relevant when the writing process starts.
On the other hand, when a journalist is given a quick tip or hears about a story, somehow, sometimes the information is given out too fast. He or she wants to be first to share the information with the public, leading to many errors, like misinformation or a lack of objectivity.
It is no secret that media is becoming more and more biased; however, that does not mean that you, as a reader, can not stay objective while trying to look at the media. Everyone has that one new station or newspaper they like to week up to date on, which is not the problem.
The problem lies within not going further than just watching the news or reading a story. In a New York Times article, a short history of objectivity is given. The author even states that in the 1960's interpretations and analysis, not just facts were given in reports. If it historically is shown that media does not always just given facts, why is objectively feel like a new problem within today's society?
When the viewer is deciding to only watch one bias side of the media, then he or she shares that biased information, then the whole art of objectivity is lost. It is up to the reader to take a look at both sides of the story. Either that being looking at another news source or just looking where the journalist got his or her facts. It is also up to the reader to not take the interpretations and analysis that the journalist gives as if they are the straight facts.
My best advice to stay objective is to look at all sides of the news, fact checks your journalist, and take everything you hear with a little grain of salt.
Mallory, I agree with your take on the reader remaining objective. I believe it is impossible to be completely unbiased, it is just how we are as humans. With that being said, it would make sense to be aware when reading an article that the person writing is could potentially be biased, even if they are trying very hard to not be biased. There could be some bias stemming from the source the journalist received the information from that inevitably finds its way into the article. It just as important for the readers as it is for the person writing to stay objective. With this day in age, news stories break almost instantaneously, creating the opportunity for misinformation now more than ever, it would make sense to try to be as objective as possible. I try to read multiple articles about the same event, as to get multiple perspectives rather than relying on just one. It also seems to be an issue that people only read the headline or bits and pieces of the article, which can be harmful as well!
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