A News World Order
By Alan Nero
Objectivity has become the most loaded term in journalism and sets the press up for failure. It’s used as a stand-in for a complex balance every journalist must exercise in their career; a balance between two poles of a spectrum of interest.
On one end lies true objectivity, a complete lack of investment in a given situation. At the other end resides subjective bias. For the duration of a journalist’s work, they must tread the fine line between objectivity and subjectivity in order to both effectively report on the myriad issues in our society and to reliably represent the communities to which they are responsible.
The problem posed by substituting objectivity for this balance is the vulnerable position in which it places reporters. While the general public abides by the true definition of objectivity and judges journalism by this impossible standard, news organizations simultaneously cross the borderline into outright bias and justify the public’s scrutiny. One terrifyingly appropriate example is the media network the Sinclair Broadcast Group.
In lieu of mounting corruption, both in public offices and in the newsrooms that cover them, the public screams out for a path ahead and away from these dark sensationalist days of “Fake News” and “Alternative Facts”. Though the pursuit of objectivity only muddied the waters through which reporters wade, and has turned the term into a weapon used by politicians and other journalists to discredit press they disagree with. Robert McChesney addresses this phenomenon in his book The Problem of the Media:
“The final proposition — that truly objective journalism would invariably see the world exactly the way Rush Limbaugh sees it — points to the ideological nature of the exercise. Indeed, no conservative has ever criticized journalism for being too soft on a right-wing politician or unfair to liberals or the left. Favorable cover of the Right is quality unbiased journalism. Unfavorable coverage of Democrats is equally unbiased. Unfavorable coverage of conservatives is, almost by definition, riddled with bias. It is a no-win proposition.”
How then can we hope to disengage from this cycle of producing overtly biased media and unfairly judging the honest members of the press who labor so tirelessly to walk the moral tight rope before them?
To clear the path ahead, disarm the loaded term objectivity, and provide the public with journalism they can trust, the instruments by which society judges reportage need to be recalibrated. Instead of seeking to provide or consume objective news, focus must be shifted to fair and transparent news. Once society and news media alike acknowledge that minimal bias is required to provide quality reports produced through interest, passion, and a desire to serve the public, we can emphasize the metrics of honesty, accuracy, and equity. With these new tools in hand, flawed media made by the pursuit of objectivity can be left behind in favor of news that is reliably reported and justly gauged.
