Week 8: Objectivity in Journalism

Objectivity is fundamentally reporting of the truth. Personally I do not feel total objectivity of a journalist or the function of journalism is possible. This is not to suggest that journalists consciously skew news stories in a way that is consistent with their personal set of values or beliefs (although this may occur occasionally), or that there are conniving and deceptive institutionalised agendas to sway public opinion in a certain direction. It is merely suggested that there are a number of factors that subconsciously affect the objectivity of the news. It is impossible for a journalist to divorce themselves totally from the news that they report, and they will essentially impose their own personal voice on the events in some way. Arguably journalists are incorporating their own personal views in dictating the social agenda.

Likewise the function of journalism involves selection. Individual journalists and newsrooms are forced to choose which events are deemed newsworthy and which aren’t. Some happenings will be overlooked for dissemination to the public merely because the limited scope of resources of newsrooms to report on events. The subjective rational e of choosing which of these events receives coverage implicitly impacts upon the objectivity of the news function. The nature of media organisations like Fairfax or News Limited as corporate entities also means that the reporting of news will often be consistent with organisational values. For example there is a widespread perception of Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited’s news coverage as being slightly favourable to right-wing politics.

Media framing is also an important issue relating to subjective reporting. Often journalists have a tendency to phrase words and sentences in such a way to reinforce a particular political agenda. Perhaps the most well-known example of is the consistent and unthinking use of the phrase “War on Terror” by the Western media. This phrase seemingly justifies the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq by Western Governments (particularly the USA’s former Bush administration.) I am not suggesting engaging in conflict with Middle Eastern nations should or shouldn’t have happened; however news coverage of this by the media has seemingly had the effect of swaying the views of some people in a particular way.

Arguably the commercial nature of newsrooms means objectivity is not valued as an important tool in journalism because it does not score high readership or viewer ratings. Opinion-based shows get high ratings because they are entertaining. This is particularly evident in the USA where opinionated talk-show hosts like the conservative, right-wing  Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck and the left-wing, politically liberal Keith Olbermann reign supreme. High ratings mean more money for these networks, so there's little incentive for networks like FOX or MSNBC to change their formats.

One hundred per cent objectivity in the newsroom is not an achievable goal. As BBC journalist, Sigrun Rottman states, “objectivity in journalism is an illusion" (Appiah-Dolphyne 2009.) The most desirable outcome for journalists is instead striving towards fairness and balance in their reporting.

 References-

Appiah-Dolphyne, J. 2009,  "Objectivity in journalism is an illusion,” International Institute of Journalism, 31 July, viewed 22 September 2010, <http://inwent-iij-lab.org/Weblog/2009/07/31/objectivity-in-journalism-is-an-illusion/>.