Do algorithmic media harm the principle of objectivity in the news?
Journalists all over the world have one main objective: to tell the truth. According to Kovach and Rosenstiel “Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.” They’re the main source that should provide the public with objective and unbiased news, presenting the facts as they are. Media ethics requires the journalist to stay objective and to present only real and valid news. Objectivity is defined by the fact of representing facts that aren’t influenced by personal feelings or opinions. According to Ward (2009) “Reporters should provide unbiased information free of opinion. They should stick to the facts and avoid taking sides.“ However, isn’t the fact that journalist choose an angle to present the information or the story is biased and far from objectivity?
The rise of Social Media created a society that not only passively receives news, but they can now play the role of news creators. Social Media gave people a platform to give their opinions, share their thoughts, their interpretation and create an interactive society. In that case, people take the information given based on their personal experiences and how they want to look and these facts so the question about the core of objectivity is by itself challenging.
It is crucial to recognize the influence of Social Media platforms of the society and the role it plays in connecting the world together. Social Media actually shifted the main definition of objectivity into a new definition that includes the opinions of all the society, a pragmatic objectivity as defined by Ward (2009). News today isn’t only presented to the public, but the public on the other hand analyzes and engages in it. The main question here is: does the audience receive the news and the interpretation equally or the algorithm present in each Social Media platform prevents it from reaching the divers population?
Today, in these platforms what attracts the most attention is actually considered the most important. Algorithm present in these Social Media platforms actually decides what is important and what is not according to each user. This leads to the fact that while using these platforms we only see news based on the perceptive that the algorithm wants us to see based on our interests and interactions. To start with, the principle of algorithm and the calculations it makes challenges the concept of objectivity and it has a biased control.
Be it Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter the algorithm system run the social media platform. However, as Agrawal (2016) discusses how each platform works, he states that Facebook orders posts according to the relevancy score, Twitter emphasizes on recent posts organized chronologically to get rid of the fear of missing out, and Instagram portrays what the algorithm says you care about the most. We should shed light the issue that these social media platforms became so powerful and important and also trusted by most people, even thought they’re biased and far from objectivity.
Furthermore, the presence of these algorithms on Social Media platforms can encourage and help the spread of fake news. Let’s take the example of the Russian ad scandal during the USA elections. Russia used Social Media to drive a fight between Americans, and in an attempt to influence the 2016 election they created fake accounts, pages and communities to push divisive online content and videos, and to mobilize real Americans. All of it was designed to look like it was coming from authentic American voices and interest groups. They used data-driven targeting and analysis to assess how the content was received, and they used that information to refine their messages and make them more effective.
To conclude, algorithmic media weakens the principles of objectivity and neutrality. These algorithms are only giving the people what they want to see ignoring other people’s point of view. Algorithms are giving what the public wants to see, which contradicts with the principles of media ethics regarding the objectives of the news. Social Media platforms should present to audience all the information not only what grab’s there attention, and let the users decide what they really want to see.
References
Agrawal. (2016, April 20). What Do Social Media Algorithms Mean For You? Retrieved from:
Kovach, Rosenstiel. (n.d). The Elements of Journalism. Retrieved from:
https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/journalism-essentials/what-is-journalism/elements-journalism/
Ward. (2017, March 22). Radical Journalism Ethics in the Time of Trump: Engagement and Pragmatic Objectivity. Retrieved from
Ward. (2011, August 31). Rethinking Journalism Ethics, Objectivity in the Age of Social Media. Retrieved from:
