29 May Can Journalism be objective?
Can Journalism be objective?
This essay will focus on whether journalists and journalism as a profession can and should be objective. Objectivity in journalism is the presentation of facts without personal bias or prejudice towards the information they have, and which will eventually be published to the general public, which will then allow them to interpret the information and make their own minds up about it. This essay will further explore objectivity in fields such as sports and sports reporting and how integral objectivity is to the future.
The profession of journalism is one of the most highly demanding jobs, and being one of the number one sources of news, the relationship between the general public and the news relies on the credibility of the news source. News sources gain credibility through truthful honest reporting and journalism, earning the trust of the public by keeping them informed on important subjects going on in the country, such as politics. Journalists can have their own views on a story and most of the time they have a rough idea on the direction it is going in but as Jones (2009) said, “ A journalist often enters a story with an idea about what the story is, but the point of objectivity is that, that doesn’t matter. It has to be tested against the evidence you find and then you have to tell the story straight.” What Jones means here is that a journalist can have their own views and opinion on a story but if the evidence found doesn’t line up with their beliefs, he/she has to present the facts truthfully and fairly. So journalists should strive to be objective for this very matter, they have to be credible and respected by their audience.
Objectivity can be heavily seen in sports, an example of this can be a football score line, West Ham United beat Watford football club 4-1 on the final game of the 2018/19 season. The result of the match is an objective fact. However, further statistics of the match could show a different side of the story, for example, possession stats, goal scoring opportunities and more. Journalists who report on the match present the fact that West Ham won, however within the writing and the brief description of the match, readers could potentially come to the conclusion that West Ham got lucky, due to a red card going in their favour and a questionable penalty decision also going their way. But as a Journalist you have to present the facts, you cannot change and report the result based on your own personal bias due to how well spectated and documented football and sports in general is. However, objectivity in sports and sports journalism/reporting can be seen as increasingly moving away from being objective, as more ex athletes are moving into media based roles after their careers are over. An example of this is Paul Scholes (2018), after Manchester United pulled off a shock win away to Italian champions Juventus he had this to say, “You need to ride your luck at times, and they did do that on occasions tonight. They stuck in the game and thankfully they got the win.” Scholes, an ex Manchester United player and club legend here is trying to be objective; he offers a rather honest and balanced point of view. But his own personal bias becomes obvious through his use of language when he says, “ thankfully”. Kovach and Rosentiel (2001) said, “The method is objective, not the journalist.” This can be seen as one of the counter arguments as to why Journalism cannot be objective and this especially goes for sport as sports is largely loyalty based. So people will have their own teams and preferences and that sometimes influences the journalist into being bias, what Kovach and Rosentiel are suggesting is that objectivity is a method in which journalists practice in order to maintain their credibility in the world of journalism and within the public eye, but they’re also saying that people working within the world of Journalism are also humans, with emotions and feelings so they’re bound to have a opinion or bias no matter what.
‘One man’s terrorist’s another man’s freedom fighter’ by Olatunbosun (2011) discusses the meaning behind the phrase and what the message or actions of someone, may mean different things to different people. This phrase, the title of the book is a prime example as to why journalism can and should be objective. The journalist presents the facts to the public and leaves them to decide how they feel on the story. Controversial figures such as Nelson Mandela are an example that can be seen as both a terrorist and a freedom fighter. Mandela was arrested in 1962 at the Rivonia trial for sabotage and was linked to bomb plots at the time, and it’s important that objectivity and the facts are truthfully presented because you then allow the public to make their own minds up on Mandela. Was he a hero trying to bring down the racist Apartheid system in South Africa at the time, which promoted racial segregation and tension, or was he a terrorist hurting the innocent? ‘ Sympathy for the devil: The Hero is a Terrorist in V for Vendetta’ looked at by Carretero-Gonzalez (2010) could explain why some people sympathise with terrorism. A Vendetta is a feud, meaning there is a motive behind their actions. So the people of countries who are being bombed by western countries, may sympathise with the retaliation of actions such as suicide bombings or whatever methods they use to obtain their revenge. But as Nathanson (2010) says, “A valuable end does not justify the means used to achieve it.” And journalists should be presenting these facts and allowing the public to judge Nelson Mandela accordingly, not promoting their own personal bias in order to influence an overall opinion of a character.
However, Journalism may fail to be completely objective in the instances of terrorism due to their political bias. The media has such an influence in society today and some would say they could win or lose elections. Some news organisations lean towards the left side of the political spectrum and others lean to the right, for example Fox News. Some news organisations may pay a particular focus on terrorism to distract the public away from the wrongdoings the country may be doing elsewhere. Herman and Chomsky (1988) support this, they said, “the government might be manipulating the news, imposing its own agenda, and deliberately diverting attention from other material.”
Objectivity is important going into the future. If objectivity is abandoned it would make the general public, passive recipients of the news instead of being aggressive analysers, what this means is it is important to look at/into the facts you are shown to make sure they are true instead of accepting things at face value. Additionally, Journalists continuing to be objective protects them from a loss of credibility, and credibility is very important in the world of Journalism. One way of maintaining objectivity is putting what Ben Shapiro (2017) says in to practice, “Facts don’t care about your feelings.” Objectivity at the end of the day is putting facts before bias, which is what Shapiro is signalling here.
In conclusion, Journalism should be objective, and journalists should strive to be objective as their credibility depends on it. However, on a human level it is not always easy to be 100% objective, each and every person has thoughts and feelings towards something or someone and that can sometimes influence the way the person represents the information they have. Sadly in todays age the mainstream media and press are very powerful especially politically, so the inaccurate presentation of facts has become a regular occurrence on both sides of the political spectrum to further push an agenda. It is becoming increasingly harder to be objective.
Bibliography
- Nathanson, S. (2010), Terrorism and the Ethics of War, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- Gonzalez, M. C. (2010). Sympathy for the Devil: The Hero is a Terrorist in V for Vendetta.
- Herman, E. and Chomsky, N. (1988). A Propaganda Model.
- Olatunbosun, K. (2011). One man’s terrorist’s another man’s freedom fighter. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse.
- Juventus 1-2 Manchester United POST-MATCH ANALYSIS – Champions League. (2018).
Available at: https://youtu.be/EmVRL92im8s.
- Kovach, B. and Rosenstiel, T. (2001). The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect. Three Rivers Press.
- Alex Jones: Objectivity in Journalism. (2009).
Available at: https://youtu.be/bJzRdMvBL1c.
- “Facts don’t care about your feelings” – Ben Shapiro SLAMS Leftist Reporter. (2017).
Available at: https://youtu.be/xEhEpXf6450.
