I just recently talked with a friend who said, “Objective? Are we still pretending that journalism can be objective?”
This is a sentiment that I’ve been running into more and more as time has gone on.
For example, we regularly get emails or calls telling us that we should be sticking up for one issue or another. In other words, being urged to take a side, which is the opposite of being objective.
Objectivity should always have a place in news reporting. There is a time and place for opinions, but that should be reserved for opinion columns, like what you’re reading now.
When people say objectivity in journalism is dead, they are often referring not to news reporting, but rather to commentary and punditry. And very often, they are referring to American media personalities.
Tucker Carlson, Bill O’Reilly, Rachel Maddow, Van Jones, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, John Oliver, this list could go on for a long time, are not reporters. They are commentators and should not be confused with journalists.
On the Canadian end, there are fewer figures as popular or polarizing, but I often see people criticizing or praising the “journalism” of people like Ezra Levant, Margaret Wente, Christie Blatchford, Rex Murphy, Rick Mercer or the late Rafe Mair.
Again, these are not journalists; they are commentators.
Finally, I’ve also encountered the debate about the objectivity of actual news reporters. Many tell me that since people are prone to their own biases, we should stop trying to create objective news.
I would say that absolute objectivity is impossible, the same way absolute perfection isn’t possible.
That doesn’t mean we should stop trying to reach for it.
The consequences of giving up on this goal are huge, and we’re already seeing them in the United States, where punditry appears to be steadily replacing actual reporting, which is the logical extension of what happens when people start devaluing objective journalism.
Just flip on the television at any time of day and you’ll see this. Very, very often, you’ll see a pundit. Not a reporter.
The end result is clear. A destabilized, hyper-polarized society where people even have trouble agreeing as to whether the recent Florida mass shooting victims are real, or just “crisis actors.”
I’d prefer to keep that mess away.
