The problem is “traditional” objectivity, not objectivity per se

This editorial has been wildly miscontrued by those who thinks it means abandoning the concept of truth. So perhaps a few quotes are in order.

“I didn’t consider it [objectivity] a standard for our newsroom. My goals for our journalism were instead accuracy, fairness, nonpartisanship, accountability and the pursuit of truth.”

“We urge news organizations to, first, strive not just for accuracy based on verifiable facts, but also for truth — what Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward have called “the best obtainable version of the truth.” This means original journalism that includes investigating and reporting on all aspects of American life.”

What's needed for each are clear and consistent policies regarding social media and political activity.

One thought on “The problem is “traditional” objectivity, not objectivity per se

  1. Heh, builds trust with *whom*, paleface? As newsrooms of top-tier media become filled with the children of the highly-educated upper-middle-class, the attitudes of their stories will become increasingly aligned with the highly-educated upper-middle-class … and after all, that’s the market of top-tier media.

    Journalism school destroyed newspaper reporting as a refuge for working-class boys who disliked physical labor (or needed a job compatible with alcoholism), and it shows. “It’s hard to imagine now, but in Chicago, even 20 years ago, the working class was portrayed more vividly in the newspapers than the upscale consumer class, and workers weren’t depicted as members of the noble but oppressed proletariat — objects fit for genteel compassion. The old neighborhoods were portrayed uncondescendingly, as scrambling menageries, where aspirations of lace-curtain respectability competed with the hoodlum’s ethic: where’s mine? Reporters who covered this turf expected venality and took a connoisseur’s delight in tales of petty greed.” — David Brooks

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