The Failure of Objectivity

It seems as though the main goal of news corporations is to put out objective coverage of the news, or at least to convince everyone that that is what they are doing. In reality, though, just about no one is truly objective, no matter how much they say they are. Many times the people writing the stories do not even realize that they are putting a slant on them and have the belief that has been drummed into them that the news should be, and is, covered from an objective viewpoint that does not favor one side over another. However, no one in the world can see all sides of a situation from a disconnected point of view. It is also true that, even if they could, there is no way to include all of the information needed to tell the whole story in one article, news clip, or even book. Thus, they have to choose what information to include and pass on to the public and which will end up on the editing floor. Through this cutting and pasting process, a lot of pertinent things get left out, the lack of which gives a paper a slant one way or another, although it is subconscious and unintentional. Peoples opinions about what the readers need to know vary greatly and the way in which the story is presented can make the difference in how the public views the situation. The same situation can be covered by two different individuals and come out sounding like a complete tragedy from one and an unimaginable blessing from the other.

A case in point is the election process that America just endured during the past year or so. To some reporters, John Kerry was going to be the guy who would save the country (and the world) from the "evil" President Bush. They gave glowing reports about all of Kerry's good attributes, covered the positive things that he did and said, and made him seem like an overall great guy. However, the stories that they presented about Bush did not have the same positive outlook that they gave Kerry. Even though both men had their good moments as well as their bad, President Bush's bad moments were played up while Kerry's were toned down and he was made out to be a knight in shining armor. It was not as though the other side was very much better. To them, the President was a saint who could do just about no wrong, and they boldly proclaimed him as such, but when it came to the subject of John Kerry, they presented him as being unable to do any good. They are probably both nice guys, and, as we all are, they are both sinners, but, depending on whom you read or listened to, one was always shone as being the greatest man to have walked on the face of the earth, while the other belonged in the deepest, darkest pits of hell.

The news media world needs to wake up and realize the reality of the situation. They need to see that their attempts to be completely objective will always fail and they will never be able to truly reach the goal. In the meantime, they are only serving to mislead and confuse their readers and viewers by their claims of objectivity. Instead, they need to be honest about who they are and what they believe, since their beliefs are what ultimately come out in their news stories anyway. As long as people know what their bias is, they will find it much easier to find out the real facts of a situation while keeping the writers preconceptions in mind.

"Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices--just recognize them." -- Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965)