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 […]
Bias Ease
This article is the first installment of a column that will analyze the American news industry, examining the role of the press and of the public with respect to journalism. It will delve into individual and organizational bias, ratings concerns, the impact of the Internet and new technologies, responsible reporting, and news consumption. At the […]