Summary
Contents
The SAGE Key Concepts series provide students with accessible and authoritative knowledge of the essential topics in a variety of disciplines. Cross-referenced throughout, the format encourages critical evaluation through understanding. Written by experienced and respected academics, the books are indispensable study aids and guides to comprehension. Key Concepts in Journalism offers a systematic and accessible introduction to the terms, processes, and effects of journalism;a combination of practical considerations with theoretical issues; and further reading suggestions. The authors bring an enormous range of experience in newspaper and broadcast journalism, at national and regional level, as well as their teaching expertise. This book will be essential reading for students in journalism, and an invaluable reference tool for their professional careers.
Objectivity
Objectivity
If the notion of impartiality is the professional lodestar of modern journalism, particularly in UK broadcast newsrooms, then where does this leave the idea that journalists either are, can be or should be objective?
The two ideas are often taken to be much the same thing and used interchangeably (Harcup, 2004). But although there is some relationship, they rest on rather different world views. Whereas impartiality as expressed in press and broadcasting codes of practice, is taken to include notions of fairness, even-handedness, and accuracy, objectivity is philosophically a tougher nut. It's predicated on the notion that there are observable things external to the mind; that there are independently verifiable ‘facts’ that can be separated from subjective values (Schudson, 1978 in Tumber, 1999).
This concept arose ...