Media

Emily in Paris: The Disillusioned American Dream

Americans love Paris. We envision a fictional version of the city where life is full of cafes, croissants, and a certain je ne sais quoi. We idealize their style, food, and liberated concept of romance. Netflix’s hit sit-com, Emily in Paris, encapsulates our infatuation not only with France’s popular culture, but with its working culture […]

The Racist and Sexist Media Coverage Behind Vice President Harris’s Unpopularity

Kamala Harris broke countless boundaries as the first woman—and person of Black and Indian heritage—to become vice president of the United States. Her approval ratings, however, do not match the expected enthusiasm for the gravity of her accomplishment. Almost immediately after her inauguration in January 2021, Harris’s approval ratings began to decline. Five months later, […]

Why We Can’t Forget Johnny Depp and Amber Heard

Earlier this year, former spouses and actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard sued each other for defamation in a highly publicized trial that largely focused on both parties’ alleged domestic violence. Five months after the trial’s conclusion, national feminist organizations and prominent celebrities signed an open letter in support of Amber Heard condemning the harassment […]

The Problem with Dahmer: True Crime Shows and the Broken Criminal Justice System

A growing number of American adults are watching true crime dramas, based on theft, kidnappings, or serial murders, on a regular basis. In recent years there has been a rapid increase in production and consumption of the true crime genre.  Most recently, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, a true crime drama revolving around notorious cannibal […]

What makes a Republican

Picture this: you are a young adult going to college in Boston. Maybe your parents are conservative and you have a Trump flag in your house. Maybe they aren’t, but you’ve always seen your parents as bleeding hearts. You love your country—this is the place where freedom is key. You can speak ill of your […]

Abolishing Journalistic Objectivity in the Pursuit of Truth

Journalists are hiding information from you, but not in the way you think.  Many journalists—protected by the decades-old ethical standard of journalistic objectivity—fail to engage in anything more than surface-level interviews with their sources. “Objectivity” hinders reporters from building trusting relationships with their sources, resulting in poor reporting that lacks emotion. News outlets should abandon […]

The Black, White, and Grey Areas of Ethical Protest Coverage

On November 5, 2019, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions visited Northwestern University to speak to students about Trump’s agenda. Sessions’s visit drew about 150 protesters, some of whom climbed through windows or pushed through the doors of the building in an attempt to interrupt the talk. As the university’s student paper, the Daily Northwestern sent […]

The “Public” Elite

Mainstream media elitism has become the industry norm, perpetuating a system of cosmopolitan journalism that fails to achieve true diversity.

The Ethical Role of Media in Election Reporting

During presidential election cycles, many Americans spend weeks with their eyes trained on their television screens. News stations are often the first place voters look to for election updates, as it is customary for the Associated Press (AP) to provide networks with projections before polls close. Election night coverage in 2020 garnered an estimated fifty-seven […]

The Progression of Journalism: Transparency When Objectivity Fails

Photo by Joe Piette Objectivity doesn’t mean what most people think it does. Its original definition, popularized by Walter Lippmann, explained how neutrality applies to journalism the same way the scientific method does to science: a collection of evidence that leads to a deductive conclusion.  Today, objectivity is synonymous with “fairness” and “balance.” It’s unattainable […]