The importance of Objectivity

Philip Meyer is a Knight Professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina.  He defines Objectivity as standing so far from the community that you see all events and all viewpoints as equally distant and important or unimportant.  It is implemented by giving equal weight to all viewpoints and assertions.  The result is a laying out of facts in a sterile, noncommittal manner, and then standing back to let the reader decide which view is true.  

Objectivity helps journalists stay detached from the people and events that they are covering.  As discussed previously the purpose of journalism is to provide the citizens with enough information to make their own opinions and decisions.   If a journalist gets too involved in a story and begins to take a side then that is not supplying the citizens with the proper information to make the decision for themselves.  

Objectivity is a very important part of journalism.  It can be hard to achieve but is worth it in the end to achieve the purpose of journalism.  It provides a framework for journalists to function ethically because it gives citizens fair, accurate information without being too one-sided.    


http://www.unc.edu/~pmeyer/ire95pj.htm