Save objectivity; reject partisanship

Objectivity is an inevitable topic in any discussion of the modern news media. It was certainly a prominent issue during this week’s CCA, “The News Media Today.”

Author and radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt observed that the media is steadily becoming more partisan and approved of the trend because he believes humans are naturally partisan.

Bill Sammon of the Washington Times, however, said he still believes journalists should follow the time-honored standard of objectivity.

And David Brooks of the New York Times described objectivity as the virtue journalists fall short of but must continually strive for.

Is it possible to be objective—and should journalists still be held to this standard?

We face this question every week in our work for the Collegian.

And we agree with Sammon and Brooks.

We recognize people’s natural inclination toward bias and the virtual impossibility of being entirely objective, but these are not sufficient reasons to end the pursuit of objectivity.

Imagine what society would be like if we decided that perfect morality was unattainable, therefore we quit pursuing it. Now imagine a world of media that has discarded even its pretenses of objectivity.

Conservative Americans who cry out against liberal media bias often want to counteract it with media of a conservative bias. But this response only makes conservatives resemble the enemy they are trying to fight.

A good reporter—and therefore a good newspaper—is perpetually open-minded to and relentlessly curious about the world and all its people and events. Newspapers are intrinsically about people, and a good newspaper will cover stories that would otherwise go unheard.

If we journalists, succumbing to partisanship, give up the pursuit of objectivity altogether, then we are no longer creating newspapers—instead, we will be merely spreading propaganda.