The Dangerous Myth Of Media Objectivity

This notion of balance that media figures stubbornly cling to has had a literal effect on our brains, and has increased violence against the most vulnerable in our society.

The historically fraught debate over journalistic neutrality was thrust into the spotlight when Out magazine ran a photoshoot and 5,000-word profile devoted to Milo Yiannopoulos, Breitbart tech editor and notorious hatemonger.

In July, Yiannopoulos was permanently banned from Twitter for his part in a harassment campaign against actress and comedian Leslie Jones consisting of racist and sexist tweets. In Out’s interview, he scoffed at the idea that he is racist, saying, “I just like fucking blacks and, ergo, [am] unlikely to be a racist.” He later went on to rant about the Black Lives Matter movement, saying, “It has achieved nothing else but to divide people and to fuel racism.” He elaborated by repeating racist stereotypes, the first being the same one white police officers have used in justification of their lethal use of force against unarmed black men: “It’s just not the right response. If you have a community with a reputation of being aggressive and obnoxious and unreasonable and wallowing in victimhood, that’s the last thing you do.”