What's Fit to Print? The Mainstream Media's Misguided Obsession With "Objectivity"

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/media/153095/what%27s_fit_to_print_the_mainstream_media%27s_misguided_obsession_with_%22objectivity%22/

The battle lines couldn't appear more sharply drawn: Fox News versus "real journalism." That's the way former New York Times editor Howell Raines framed the conflict in a Washington Post column last year. He implored honest reporters to take on Roger Ailes' network, lamenting that: Through clever use of the Fox News Channel and its cadre of raucous commentators, Ailes has overturned standards of fairness and objectivity that have guided American print and broadcast journalists since World War II. Yet, many members of my profession seem to stand by in silence as Ailes tears up the rulebook that served this country well as we covered the major stories of the past three generations, from the civil rights revolution to Watergate to the Wall Street scandals.

I might have found this argument about the Times' superiority more convincing a month ago. Around then, Jacobin, the small magazine I edit, hosted a discussion in lower Manhattan on Occupy Wall Street. The event was well-attended -- standing room only and dozens turned back at the door. However, though the Occupy movement is inspiring, we haven't yet gotten to the point where debates on political strategy and tactics are anything but a family affair for committed leftists. We fully expected the tranquility that obscurity affords.

And, for a little bit at least, we got obscurity. Then came the firestorm. Andrew Breitbart, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and members of the right-wing b-team launched a fatwa of sorts at us, denouncing the participation of Natasha Lennard, a Times freelancer, in our panel. The newspaper's response was swift and uninspiring. Lennard, Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy assured, would be not be used for future Occupy Wall Street coverage. She added, "All our journalists, staff or freelance, are expected to adhere to our ethical rules and journalistic standards and to avoid doing anything that could call into question the impartiality of their work for the Times." The fact that someone could be fired for discussing a left-wing movement on a panel hosted by a left-wing publication caused me to reflect a bit on objectivity and the narrow ideological terrain on which it rests.

[Vincardog]

1. By their standards every on Faux so called SnewZ should be fired. Goose meet Gander

[PETRUS]

2. The example in the penultimate paragraph is good. K&R

[Occulus]

3. The penultimate paragraph explains the false-equalization bullshit.

Sorry, read it wrong....

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. The history of journalism is neither mainstream nor objective

[Doctor_J]

5. They are not obsessed with objectivity - they're obsessed with "balance"

So that every insane utterance from the Repukes is given air time. Like I suggested to Tom Tomorrow, who made a toon out of it, if Rove thought he could garner some votes by starting a "the earth is flat, and anyone who disagrees is a left-wing radical" movement, the NY Times would read, "opinions vary on Earth's shape".

[Webster Green]

6. K&R!

:thumbsup:

[spanone]

7. k&r...

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. It is an excuse

A fantasy, that really does not exist. Most us media leans right and objectivity is code.

[LonePirate]

9. I wish out media was honest, factual and objective, in that order.

It's the only way to combat the propaganda from the right wingers who are none of those three.

[MisterP]

10. you also get real good questions and thoughts on objectivity from anthropologists

[eppur_se_muova]

11. A couple of weeks ago, I posted about Molly's thoughts on this ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php/www/:/www.youtube.com/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=2275601&mesg_id=2275601

[Warren DeMontague]

12. "objectivity" means giving equal time with evolutionary scientists to creationist clucktards.

It does NOT mean giving equal time to supporters of a Single Payer Health Care System when you hear from the folks wanting to turn medicare into a voucher system.