Truth and Objectivity

Definitely do not follow the above cartoon if you want to report the truth

This week’s topic was on truth and objectivity. Calcy and I presented on this topic and I think we did a good job on it. I discussed the factors affecting an individual’s journalistic practice and Calcy carried on illustrating these factors together with the different stages of reporting done by a journalist

Journalists are often referred to as the eyes and the ears of the public. Thus, the role of a journalist is to interpret reality as honestly as possible and to create a commonality of understanding for the public (Tickle, 2001). They have to interpret events honestly without being bias so that the public can receive accurate information. Also, they are needed to create a commonality of understanding and this can be illustrated through the Washington’s Ombudsman David Howard where he was quoted saying that he considers his budget to be ‘niggardly.’ ‘Niggardly’ means to be stingy but the black people in United Sates misinterpreted him as they thought he was using the word ‘nigger’ which is considered a foul word for the black people in the United States costing him his job. Thus, this helps to illustrate how important journalists are and the role they play in the media industry.

Truth and objectivity plays an important role in reporting as well. The truth is defined as in accordance to fact and reality and objectivity is defined as not being influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts (Oxford Dictionary, 2011). Thus, journalists have to report truthfully and objectively so as to not affect the facts of the story. However, truth and objectivity might not be same to everyone. A simple illustration would be China claiming they are a democratic country but when you compare it with the US democracy, they are far from being democratic. However, that is considered to be the truth for the Chinese. Objectivity might sway for an individual especially if it involves someone close to them. Thus, journalists have to be careful when reporting a story.

The factors affecting a journalistic practice would be religious convictions, philosophical convictions, personal integrity, lack of time and technology. Religious convictions and philosophical convictions may hinder factual reporting, show some form of biasness (injecting their own religious and philosophical beliefs) and cause a dilemma on whether to report a story. However, there is a need to check this believes at the door and report what happens (Willis, 2010). Personal integrity is a very important factor for journalists as they must not be tempted to replace news with their own self interest. One such case would be Stephen Glass, a journalist who fabricated all his quotes and stories. After he was caught for his deceit, he was terminated from his job and there was a movie made about him as well. Lack of time will also lead to fabrication of quotes especially since journalists are working in a fast-paced environment trying to meet datelines. Finally technology also causes news to reach the public faster pressurising traditional media journalists. All these factors may cause journalists to be in the gray area when reporting truthfully and objectively.

However, I feel that journalists should see these factors as opportunities to report the truth such as using the technology to get information and visuals as quickly as possible for their news stories. Reporting the truth is hard. The truth is slippery, but with concentration, skills and practice, it is possible to report the truth.

References

1) Oxford dictionary, 2011. Truth [Online]. Available from: http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/truth (Accessed 25th June 2011).

2) Oxford dictionary, 2011. Objective [Online]. Available from: http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/objective (Accessed 25th June 2011).

3) Tickle, S., 2001. The Truth, the whole truth, and nothing but…, in Journalism Theory in Practice, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne.

4) Willis, J., 2010. The mind of a journalist: how reporters view themselves, their world, and their craft. Sage. Pp. 93-106.