Objectivity has long been one of the key tenets in the production of good quality, hard-hitting journalism. The belief that news must be completely objective, with no bias affecting the story at all, in order to be credible, is one that is still present in newsrooms today, even as newsrooms and news stations themselves become more and more polarized.
Just as everyone knows that journalism should, in theory, be objective and unbiased, it is also a known fact that as human beings, we are inherently biased individuals. To put it more simply, there is no such thing as true, neutral objectivity — not when humans with the ability to critically think and individually experience the world are involved.
As someone who has experience in both opinion writing and “objective” news writing, I know first-hand the ways in which bias can change a story, and thus its delivery and the viewer’s perception of it. While objectivity is important to bear in mind when reporting on sensitive stories, it’s perhaps more important to remember that every story has multiple perspectives, and thus is inherently subjective.
There are no two individuals on this planet who have the same subjective experiences. Two people may undergo the exact same event — let’s say, for example, a school shooting, in which two students are in the same classroom together, praying they make it out alive. However, each of these two students’ experiences coming out of the shooting situation would be different from one another, impacted by factors such as upbringing, daily life, and even the way that same day had taken shape before the tragedy occurred.
These two students’ accounts of the tragedy later on would also be different, despite being next to one another in the classroom, waiting for the same eternity to tick by until they can make it to safety.
Similar to the way that these two students’ stories and perspectives would differ, even though the event is the same, the way that two different news outlets report on one same event is different as well. An outlet like Fox News, which is known widely to be a conservative news network, reported the day after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that the shooting was the effect of over-medication and virtual reality, rather than a persistent gun problem that plagues this country.
Conversely, CNN, a news organization known for being more moderate or left-leaning, focused their resources on ensuring that the stories of the survivors were the ones highlighted in their media coverage. This is not to say that Fox News didn’t also interview survivors after the massacre, but the priorities for both organizations, based off of their viewership and their sponsors, are very clearly quite different.
The bigger issue I want to highlight in all of this is that, firstly, bias is everywhere, in everything. There is no way to escape bias, or partisanship, or subjectivity of any kind. News outlets and organizations who claim to offer the most objective news are, in essence, lying to their viewers. What’s worse, the viewers are falling for the rouse. This brings me to the second part of the bigger issue: not only is subjectivity inherent in journalism, but it is in fact necessary in order for consumers to understand and relate to the news being fed to them everywhere they go.
Subjectivity leads to empathy, which is something that is often lacking in the race to be the first ones to get the scoop on breaking news. Subjectivity leads to understanding, which is vital to being informed about things going on. Subjectivity leads to thoroughness, in the way that all perspectives are accounted for, rather than just one (in the name of objectivity).
At the end of the day, it does a disservice to the reporter’s veracity, the news organization’s credibility and the consumer experience when multiple subjective perspectives are sidelined in the name of objective reporting. If journalism is a vital part of a well-informed democracy, it is important to make sure that the journalism that is being produced represents the democracy it is helping to inform. Embracing the inherent subjectivity in journalism is a part of that process of information.
