Objectivity critiques

By Marsha Green

This delves into a question that I continue to ask myself. Does objectivity exist? While as journalists it is something that we should practice but is it truly possible? I don’t believe that it is. As humans, we have an innate need to act on impulse and emotion. We can never be fully void of the biases that move us day to day.

The media has been called out and has been involved in not handling certain stories and cases objectively. Whether it’s something that we personally agree with, our responsibility is to bring the masses the information void of our personal agendas.

I agree that journalists need to include all sides of a story. In the end, we are not hired to tell only our opinions but the who, what, when, where and why of a specific story.

Let's be honest, most of the media today has been filled with biased opinions. It no longer uses its platform to do research, investigate, and bring the truth to the public.

FACT? That is what the audience deserves. When journalists start to stray from the fact and add in their personal opinions that is when things get convoluted.

But in the end, we all have biases. Our thoughts are pushed by emotional connections, our actions are moved by personal interactions, and our choices are made by a combination of the two. It sounds great on paper to be an objective journalist but we just aren’t wired that way.