The Fine Line Journalists Face: Stay Objective or Share Opinions?

Tess Woodyard

tw330817@ohio.edu

Journalists ride a fine line when it comes to sharing opinions issues. Many publishing companies are cracking down on journalists who want to speak their minds. As always, there are positives and negatives to these new policies. 

We have seen time and time again where a person's past posts on social media resurface, and they face major backlash. Even the things people currently post can get major flack. So when is it okay to speak your opinions? For journalists, when are they allowed to speak freely on issues without creating bias since they are associated with certain companies?

According to the Columbia Journalism Review, cracking down on policies for journalists won't achieve anything. People will still tie bias to outlets - everyone knows you can't be objective on every subject.

Social media is meant to be social but when large reporting outlets are creating these policies where journalists can't share opinions, how will there be any trust? Of course, there is a fine line between reporting and giving opinions, but when reporters can only report neutrality, they are seen as liars.

The importance is honesty, truth, transparency, and facts. People who subscribe to these publishing companies want to see that journalists share their viewpoints, or for that matter have a viewpoint.

Source: ESL Brains

However, journalists still have a job to do and that comes with standards. According to GBH news, adopting new policies that align with that companies code of ethics should be at the forefront. For most this includes a strong stance on neutrality.

GBH news also explains that when these policies are put in place, it doesn't mean that journalists aren't allowed to have opinions or have a lack thereof, it simply means that expressing their opinions would interfere with what they do for their job, which is reporting the facts and being objective.

On a day-to-day basis, you don't want to be seen as your opinion, you want to be seen as you. When a journalist gives their opinion, the company they work for as well as them as a person can be seen for only that opinion. That is why these policies are put in place.

There is a fine line in everything we do today. "What will people say if I post this?" "How will I be seen if I say this?" Journalists and their companies have to make huge decisions on whether it is important to share opinions and be seen as human beings or keep their standards on neutrality to do their job and report the facts.