Objectivity in Journalism and Why it Can be Counterproductive

Kiah Easton 

Kiaheaston1999@gmail.com

 

Yes, Journalists should be trained at displaying news objectively. Sometimes objectivity is necessary, examples include breaking news and stories that lack sufficient information and therefore require simplistic objective reporting. However other than in select situations and simplistic stories, pushing for more objectivity or the idea that all news should be objective causes negative effects for Journalism and society.

Especially in today's information climate Journalists can't just tell the facts when information is so readily available through the internet. Journalists need to go further, interpreting, analyzing, and producing a diverse range of perspectives on the facts and information that is most likely already available to readers.

The idea of pure objectivity being a goal in journalism is relatively new in terms of the life and history of journalism. As mentioned in Why Journalism Shifting Away From Objectivity  Journalism has never been centered around the idea of objectivity and many Journalists praised for excellence in Journalism worked to challenge injustices, clearly a non-neutral effort. 

Journalists have too much power to improve society's quality of life to remain objective. As noted in Re-thinking Objectivity by the Columbia Journalism Review, objectivity has the potential to make us as journalists and people living within a society passive to the news rather than "aggressive analyzers and explainers of it." 

One of the main functions of Journalists is to check power and work towards improving the status of our country. Objectivity does inform readers of "facts" but it does not provide analysis and interpretation leaving readers with little true perspective. Focusing less on objectivity allows the discovery of varied truths that dispersed can improve understanding.  Michael Bujega's quote in Re-thinking Objectivity sums this "Objectivity is seeing the world as it is, not how you wish it were." Often times objective reporting is an excuse for maintaining the status quo rather than trying to improve things.

 

Picture source:  Ramirez/cheatseekingmissles.com

Highly partisan media does cause negative effects including an increase in the political divide with the potential to prevent progress. However this doesn't necessarily relate to a decrease in objectivity, many political issues up for debate in our current atmosphere cant be objective. As stated by The New Republic  "In a political system divided on fundamental questions of science, religion, and national identity, the question of what responsible media looks like will only get more pressing -- but it can't be answered in terms of "objectivity.""

There isn't a path back to any real or perceived state of entirely objective news. Not only is it practically impossible for partisan news and Journalism with a perspective not to be spread but if there was it would only encourage a stale one-dimensional view of our world. If the narrative that Journalism is or should be objective continues to remain dominant, trust in Journalism will continue to decline because clearly, that is not what is being delivered. Rather than promising something that isn't and can't be achieved readers must be given the nuanced and true realization that news is biased, nonobjective and displays varying perspectives. With an emphasis on media literacy, readers can effectively use Journalists and the wealth of information we provide to help guide, inform, and synthesize their own decisions.