CCT300 – Critical Analysis of MediaOctober 29, 2009

CCT300 – Labs

Objectivity in Media

Week 8

The Real World ViewOnly in a liberal western democracy, is it expected that a journalist should strive for objectivity, balance, and a lack of bias.Other countries see the media’s role differently … as an arm of the state, for the good of the people.But even if desirable, is it possible to achieve any of these?

Definitions: ObjectivityReporting that emphasizes eyewitness accounts of events, corroboration of facts with multiple sources and "balance”.Reporting things without bias, as if one just came to Earth from another planet.A neutral point of view, not taking a stand on any issues on which there is some disagreement. Instead, journalists are simply to report what "both sides" of an issue tell them.

Problems With ObjectivityThe problem with the multiple source / balance approach is 1. It assumes there are only two (or three) sides to

an issue2. It assumes that all ‘sides’ are equal

Examples Of BiasFox News Network (for examples, see Robert Greenwald’s

“Outfoxed” – www.outfoxed.org)Anything by Michael Moore (Video samples from Fahrenheit 9/11 – www.michaelmoore.com)

In the Bias of the Beholder

Can word choice can change the slant of a story? ttp://www.umich.edu/~newsbias/wordchoice.html

Does fear of being biased damage journalism? Columbia Journalism Review’s Brent Cunningham believes so: http://www.cjr.org/issues/2003/4/objective-cunningham.asp

Should we embrace Bias, then?

Should we acknowledge our position instead rather than hiding our views?Can any human being be unbiased (and still be breathing?)Is bias a bad thing?

Is Bias Built In?Some argue that bias is intrinsic to the news media. Examples include:

1. Commercial Bias2. Temporal Bias3. Visual Bias4. Bad News Bias5. Narrative Bias6. Status Quo Bias7. Fairness Bias8. Expediency Bias9. Glory bias

Dr. Andrew R. Cline, Assistant Professor of Journalism,

Missouri State University

An Alternate Suggestion“Objectivity called for a consistent method of testing information, precisely so that personal and cultural biases would not undermine the accuracy of journalistic work.“ Kodi Barth - Lecturer in Journalism, United States International University-Nairobi

Activity• In pairs take a look at Fair’s FAQ on objective media in

journalism:• http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=121• Select a Canadian Newspaper from this list:• http://broadcast-live.com/newspapers/canadian.html• Select an article under any section and critically analyze

it using FAIR’s FAQ. Follow the questions and make an assessment. Decide as a pair whether you consider this specific news article objective. Explain why or why not.