News Journalism and the Principles of Objectivity

Abstract

Mainstream news journalism faces a practical dilemma founded on a theoretical mistake about objectivity. In this article, we bring this mistake to light and propose a new model for its practice. Mainstream news journalism has over the past century attempted to achieve its ultimate democratic goals—informing citizens and holding those in positions of power to account—by adhering to objectivity as a master value. This commitment to objectivity can be specified in terms of principles, such as the principle of reporting “just the facts,” without interpretation. But, we argue, taking principles like this to be maxims that must be followed in every circumstance tends to undermine the democratic goals of mainstream news journalism. Practitioners of mainstream news journalism therefore face a dilemma: either jettison objectivity as a master value or shirk the pursuit of its ultimate democratic goals. We argue that they should take the former route and instead adopt a conception of mainstream news journalism as a form of democratic political agency. Under this conception, mainstream news journalism aims at informing citizens and holding those in power to account while eschewing the partisan agendas of politicians and advocacy groups. We defend this conception against alternatives, including characterizations of mainstream news journalism as mere propaganda and the mistaken conflation of the democratic goals of mainstream news journalism with those of so-called activist journalism. In so doing, we provide the outlines of a philosophical approach to journalism, a profession that philosophers have largely ignored despite its social importance.