Objectivity; The role of journalists
By Oba Cantine
Objectivity in the realm of journalism is an important quality that every journalist should practice regardless of the social or political climate.
Growing up I always felt that a journalist was responsible for reporting on an issue in an as to where objective manner that readers, listeners or viewers will be able to understand all of the facts to a story, regardless of their own outlook on the topic. It falls on the journalist's shoulders to bring unbiased information to their audience so that they are able to figure out their own stance about a topic.
One of the best examples of this comes in the form of YouTuber Philip Defranco.
Aside from the fact that he is not a traditional journalist like Tucker Carlson or Don Lemon; who invite guests of differing political backgrounds to their show in order to debate their points. Philip does a great job of presenting information in a factual manner, being critical of all sides whether he agrees or disagrees with one or both of them; prompting his viewers to form their own opinions, and encouraging them to conduct further research outside of what he presented to them on his platform.
Although it can be argued by many that Objectivity does not have a place in today’s media, due to the “Fake news” epidemic perpetuated by the era of Trump’s presidency.
If more journalists during the campaign trail leading up to the election had focused more on the cause of outrage felt by Trump supporters; rather than his problematic rhetoric.
The division between the left and the right would not be as bad as it is today; if journalists during this time had properly embraced their responsibilities as agents of Objectivity rather than arguing According to Robert McChesney’s book “Understanding U.S. Journalism: Right-Wing Criticism and political coverage”, in his criticism of the “liberal media” argument he states, “…It contains an element of truth.
The problem with it is distorted, decontextualized, and opportunistically used to push a political agenda.” Although the Quote does not directly back up the thought of objectivity, the argument of media pushing a liberal agenda falls in line with the idea that the media is pushing a biased view onto its audience. A fact that reigns true on for both liberal and right-wing media companies.
