Theoretically speaking, objective journalism, a style of writing that became more popular in the late 19th century, is supposed to be the norm today. During my Journalism classes, I remember the inverted pyramid formula where we were taught to list the most important facts (who, what, where, when,why, and how)first, followed by facts in decreasing order of importance. Objective journalism is descriptive writing executed in simple, concise and unemotional language that gets the point across easily. This allows readers to get the gist of the story without reading or watching the whole thing.
However, objectivity may be difficult to achieve depending on a few factors such as editorial decisions/definition of newsworthiness which are subjective decisions that could influence public perception of issues.
The way some prioritize issues may also influence public perception not forgetting how the whole story is framed and the angle used to project the news. Such decisions must also take into consideration the reaction of the readers.
If the news item is currently popular, writers could ride on the wave of popularity and feature the news more prominently for more reader responses to engage them in a forum. No matter how difficult it is, writers in MSM and new media must observe ethics in journalism and the principle of objectivity. All writers must make a concerted effort to present bias-free news and attribute their sources to increase news credibility.
I am raising these issues out of concern because of recent incidents which show how some media seem to lack objectivity in reporting and appear to have kissed goodbye to ethics in journalism. At the same time, there seems to be two different sets of standards when dealing with different media. You can read more about it in the Malaysiakini article called Why China Press punished, not Utusan?
Suffice to say that if journalists and editors uphold journalistic principles, such situations would not arise. The issue of law enforcement is another matter which I will not discuss.
If you have the time, please read these two brilliant papers on objectivity in reporting:
a) The Fading Mystique of an Objective Press written by Doug McGill
b) Objectivity as (Self-)Censorship : Against the Dogmatization of Professional Ethics in Journalism written by Horst Potker
c) Practising Objectivity or Imposing Censorship by racetalk
My former lecturers (during my undergraduate days as a mass communications student) were very strict with regards to journalistic principles, ethics, media and society theories/practises etc. To my former lecturers such as Dato Dr. Vincent Low, Prof. R Karthigesu, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kamal Anuar, Dr. Khor Yoke Lin et al, I have never forgotten each one of you. I still hold you and those precious lessons you all taught me in my heart. For that, I thank you and may the Almighty bless you and yours always.
Do leave a comment if you wish to share your thoughts/views. Thanks. Have a lovely weekend!
Anonymous Obviously, a corrupt, racist, and irresponsible government would not want to see any news that may threaten and/or weaken their authority. Thank God for the Internet, we no longer depend on MSM to provide information, especially truthful/independent/balanced information.
I still read, at times, MSM but only for local gossips, entertainment trivial, cartoons, advertisements, that sort of things. For more important information, I look to responsible bloggers to report the unreportable.
Objectivity? Let me put it in a nice way – They either toe the line or they’re fired. So don’t blame them. They’ve just chosen the wrong profession.
So, let them write what they want to write, we’ll read what we want to read. No hard feelings. :)
StraightTalking