Sunday, August 24, 2014

Objectivity is Possible

Being objective is attainable while writing news when the truth is told. When reporters tell the facts in a clear and concise way objectivity is possible. Solid facts and absolute truth need to always be the main goal of reporters and when they are not reporters lose their credibility and therefore their objectivity.

The key component for writing objectively according  Dave Barry, famed pulitzer prize winning columnist and author is not knowing too much about the subject matter before writing. The more you know about the subject the more you are likely to form an opinion and therefore more of a bias. Avoiding a bias is impossible but writing towards objectivity is possible to higher degrees when following a more basic structural plan. This plan begins with gathering information from all the different perspectives. Having many different perspectives will diminish the reporters bias as well as make their work more objective. When readers see sources quoted from all perspectives they will not see the bias as clearly. The more sources the reporter has will also enhance the objectivity the story has. This is because it will add to the credibility of the author. Credibility is also a key factor in having objectivity with their stories because without credible sources the story completing falls through. Having clearly factual stories with multiple credible stories will give the stories the elements to make them objective.

If journalists keep the criteria above then there will be less bias in the news and more of an a objective truth. All reporters strive for their stories to be correct but many times they are not. Achieving an objective news story is possible but difficult.

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