Yesterday in media class we discussed about the objectivity of journalism. I don’t believe in objective journalism because I have never seen one. I respect those who have this view, however. Here is why I don’t believe in objective journalism. First, a journalist’s role is to inform the public. You can’t just “state the facts”, but you have to make them digestible for the public by explaining, describing and even defining certain phenomena. By providing your definitions to the readers, you implicitly become less objective (unless you provide definitions from a dictionary) because we filter definitions through our own system of thinking.
Second, even with the selection of news (what is front page news, what is newsworthy at all for the journalists, editors, the public) is subjective.
I still believe that every journalist should aspire to be objective, however, this is not a norm (I don’t think it ever was) but every journalist should aspire to be objective.
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