We find ourselves in a perilous moment. Democracy is under withering assault. Technological advances have empowered propagandists to profit through discontent and disinformation. A coordinated, 50-year campaign waged by one of our major political parties to denigrate the media and call objective reality into question has reached its logical conclusion: we occupy a nation in which a sizable portion of the public cannot reliably tell fact from fiction. The rise of a powerful nativist movement has provided a test not only of American multiracial democracy, but also of the institutions sworn to protect it.
Many forces have eroded public trust in journalism over the years. Additionally, the traditional standard of “objectivity” has lost its relevance for a new generation of journalists and news consumers. This report and accompanying “playbook” offer actionable guidelines to help news organizations restore a belief in the value of fair, fact-based reporting — trustworthy news. Here’s a fresh vision for how to replace outmoded “objectivity” with a more relevant articulation of journalistic standards.
Tom Warhover, Missouri School of Journalism: “Objectivity is an ethos built on the “shall nots” rather than the things that journalists might stand for. We shall not have insights independent of those we quote; we shall not take sides, even in things as fundamental as a better community; we shall not have feelings; we shall not be biased. Objectivity says, in essence, that journalists are not human. So how did we get to this place in journalism, and what do we do about it?”
