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November 1, 2004
Interest and disinterest...
What does the term "disinterested" mean in regard to journalism (or science)? I ask this question following my response to an essay by Doug McGill. We often hear this term used to describe the state of mind necessary to gather and properly evaluate data or information. The adjective "disinterested" is associated with the philosophical ideal (stance) of objectivity.
Because there is no such thing as an objective point of view (i.e. one that understands, and can articulate to another, reality "as it is"), there can be no such thing as a disinterested mindset in regard to gathering information and data. We have a scientific method precisely because there is no objective point of view. And we have a journalistic process, based on scientific method, for exactly the same reason.
Journalists, like scientists, are interested. This does not mean they are politically biased (although that may certainly be the case). This means that journalists, like scientists, should understand that they encounter the world with a set of values and ideologies that could get in the way of a fair and accurate portrayal of events as defined by professional norms. The process, in this case the objective process of journalism, offers reporters a point of view--an interest--from which they may come to a reasonable and human accommodation with reality and events. This reasonable and human accommodation is a transaction among experience, mind, culture, and the world in which the reporter, or scientist, attempts to "see through" (transparency) the evaluations of ideology and culture to something like the truth.
Posted by acline at November 1, 2004 12:22 PM | | Spotlight