“Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices – just recognize them.” – Edward R. Murrow
A recent comment on my blog as well as recent coverage of the election as lead to wonder about whether or not journalism is ever truly objective. The standard definition of journalistic objectivity seems to be simply presenting both arguments. However, the problem with this method is that sometimes one(and at times both) of the sides is lying and then rather than exposing the truth, this method elevates a lie to the level of fact. Many examples of this took place in the run up to the Iraq war where journalists treated the administration’s statements as gospel.
Contrary to the opinions of many, I believe journalists should be partisan. However, they shouldn’t be partisan in favor of one party or the other, or one political ideology or the other, but rather should be partisan towards the truth. The truth is often unpopular and hard to accept but journalists should be so supportive of the truth above all else that they will say it no matter what the consequences are.
The problem is that journalists are human and thus are prone to the same human foibles as everyone else. Bias often seeps through in some form whether it’s in their questions, conclusions, or wording. Of course, the persecution complexes of both major parties means that no one can agree which bias is more common. Conservatives believe almost every journalist is a closet liberal. Liberals believe almost every journalist is a closet conservative.
The real question is whether or not there is a solution.
