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January 18, 2005
Tell (something like) the truth...
The crowning ideal of the American news business--that there is such a thing as objective journalism--persists amid the terrible pressures to cut corners in the shortsighted lust for competitive advantage.
I agree about the importance and necessary persistence of objectivity if what we're talking about is objectivity as process rather than objectivity as stance. The philosophical ideal of objectivity (stance) is clearly impossible to achieve. But we may achieve objectivity in human terms (process), i.e. we can describe the world in human ways from human perspectives for human purposes.
The product of the process of objectivity may be described as having political and social utility for a particular discourse community. The product of American journalism aims to provide exactly this utility for citizens (and pundits). As Gitlin says:
Despite the evident frailties of mainstream journalism, even those who operate around its margins--bloggers, Op-Ed writers, even some of the more opinionated sectors of cable--are still completely dependent on it and still believe they're getting some truth there. (Where would Bill O'Reilly or Al Franken be without a daily newspaper?)
Hmmmm...I wish he hadn't used the T word. Using "truth" confuses the two objectivities by suggesting, falsely, that objectivity as stance is possible or that objectivity as process should be informed by the ideal.
But it is clear that, for the most part, Gitlin is talking process because it leads to something like truth, i.e. statements about the world with a high degree of utility. Speaking of the report on CBS:
Boccardi, Thornburgh and their lawyer collaborators relied on journalistic fundamentals to try to get to the bottom of what went wrong at CBS News. They interviewed sources, assessed their motives, canvassed experts, tried to resolve discrepancies. They made factual claims, asking why as well as who, what, where and when. They didn't pop off — they investigated. They were not guilty of the "myopic zeal" for a scoop of which they convincingly accused the program's producers. They pursued not attitude but truth.
Yes. Objectivity as process. But I hesitate to call its product "truth" without qualification.
Posted by acline at January 18, 2005 12:05 PM | | Spotlight