Nation editor pans objectivity
It is impossible for journalists to be completely objective, according to Katrina vanden Heuvel, at least.
Vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, a magazine which describes itself as “the flagship of the left,” addressed the Yale Political Union on Monday night to discuss the role of opinion in American media. She spoke in support of the resolution “The Press Should Not Try To Be Objective.”
Vanden Heuvel drew a distinction between reporting with an openly acknowledged point of view and injecting a secret bias into the news. “Objectivity is less an ideal than a...
Yes,
As a working journalist long out of high school, I find Vanden Heuvel's opinion of objectivity truthful. Fairness exists. Context exits. "True" objectivity does not. We all have knowledge that enriches our perception of what is newsworthy or not and we should act on that, while being sure to be fair enough to entertain other possibilities and allow those to be reflected in coverage.
As a local high school journalism teacher, I find Vanden Heuvel's opinion of objectivity troubling.