Entry
Entries A-Z
Objectiveness in Media Coverage
Objectivity in reporting, the opposite of subjectivity, refers to an ideal situation where a journalist is a neutral, unbiased observer rather than a participant in a news story. Sociologists consider this impossible to attain. The closest a reporter can get is with a “just the facts” approach. Critics of “just the facts” news reporting say that there are always biases present due to the unquestioned assumptions of the reporter, the form of the news story, and the normal process of news gathering, which serve to reinforce official viewpoints and established power structures. The critic Marshall McLuhan in his “the medium is the message” statements pointed to the inherent inseparability of bias from the media.
In consciously subjective, interpretive accounts, the author deliberately includes context and opinion, ...