Objectivity in Journalism Today
Good morning!
I missed deadline again this week. I’m still getting back into my normal routine. Bear with me for now. All right, that’s it from me for now. On to the newsletter.
Your Weekly Roundup
We start this week with perhaps one of the best pieces of writing I’ve read in awhile: Dan Barry’s profile of Evan Brandt, the last reporter covering local news in the town of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. The story is an intimate, empathetic, and moving look at one man’s dedication to the craft of news reporting in the face of the ”vulture capitalists” at Alden Global Capital who look to squeeze every last bit of profit out of local news organizations before destroying them completely. I’m not remotely close to being a real journalist, but this piece, both because of the skill of the writer and the work ethic of its subject, made me proud to be even remotely connected to their craft.
On the “vulture capital” front, the big news on Sunday was Chatham Asset Management winning the bankruptcy auction for sole ownership of McClatchy, the second largest newspaper chain in the United States. Chatham beat out Alden Global Capital for the winning bid. Ken Doctor has a great piece breaking down what it all means at NiemanLab, and I’m planning to come back to this topic once the deal is officially approved on July 24th.
In sports media, the big story from the past week was the suspension of NBA uber-reporter and personality Adrian Wojnarowski (aka Woj). Wojnarowski was suspended after he responded to a press release email from Missouri senator Josh Hawley with “fuck you.” The press release email accused the NBA of limiting free speech on their jerseys and questioned the NBA’s relationship with China. This move from Hawley was a direct response to the NBA allowing players to put approved messages supporting Black Lives Matter on their jerseys as they set to resume their season later this month in Florida. Because of his stature (just Google “Woj bomb”) Woj’s suspension is a big deal, and his decision to respond the way he did is somewhat baffling. But Hawley’s political play, turning the NBA’s decision to support its players and their personal beliefs into an attack on the NBA’s business relationship with China, is a craven move for attention.
That wasn’t the only news at ESPN this past week. On Monday, the New York Times published an article with accounts from employees of racism and unequal treatment at the company. The piece is yet another example of employees at media companies feeling empowered to speak out in the current moment about long standing issues.
Also on Monday, The Wrap reported that CNN will be launching a “new and expanded race team” to “better cover what is happening in our society.” CNN is actively hiring three roles for the team who will contribute across the organization’s platforms.
The Chicago Tribune published a comprehensive piece last week looking at how COVID-19 has impacted media organizations in Chicago. The story touches on something that we’ve seen across the media landscape over the past four months: readership at many news outlets is up, but still people are losing their jobs.
Meanwhile, over at the much-discussed and maligned G/O Media, the company announced on Monday that they would be bring back John Biggs as editor in chief of Gizmodo, where he formerly held the same position from 2003-2005.
In podcasting news, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released a report on Monday showing that podcast advertising is expected to grow by 14.7% in 2020. The news category of podcasts is the leading genre for advertisers, accounting for 22% of revenue. Good timing for the Axios podcast to start—which could maybe be part of Spotify one day?
I’m not going to give much space to this, but on Tuesday, the controversial Bari Weiss resigned from the New York Times. There is plenty of analysis you can get on the story elsewhere. Or you can play Delia Cai’s delightful Bari Weiss trivia game.
Finally, I really enjoyed this piece from former Vice staff member Harry Cheadle. I discovered it on his Substack, “What Went Wrong?,” and found it a refreshing, sober, and disheartening account of one journalist’s view of the business failures that cost him his job.
What I’m Engaged With
Last month, I covered some of the recent discussions of objectivity in journalism, and since then that conversation has continued. So this week, I want to spend a little time looking at some of the points that have been made over the past month.
On June 23rd, the journalist Wesley Lowery published an essay in the New York Times titled “A Reckoning Over Objectivity, Led by Black Journalists.” In the piece, he skillfully lays out how the idea of objectivity as it is defined in newsrooms is based on assumption of reporting that will seem objective to an assumed white audience—a practice that persists because of the lack of diversity in newsrooms.
That is, of course, a simplification of the piece. Lowery makes plenty of other excellent points, such as acknowledging that journalism is fundamentally based upon subjective decision-making. He also calls for a new framework for how editors and writers should think about how they deliver news:
“And so, instead of promising our readers that we will never, on any platform, betray a single personal bias — submitting ourselves to a life sentence of public thoughtlessness — a better pledge would be an assurance that we will devote ourselves to accuracy, that we will diligently seek out the perspectives of those with whom we personally may be inclined to disagree and that we will be just as sure to ask hard questions of those with whom we’re inclined to agree.”
But to do this, Lowery says, it will take a “moral clarity” that will “require both editors and reporters to stop doing things like reflexively hiding behind euphemisms that obfuscate the truth, simply because we’ve always done it that way.”
The journalist Tom Rosenstiel singled out the phrase “moral clarity” on a Twitter thread that built on Lowery’s piece. Rosenstiel provides a lot of historical context on the idea of objectivity in journalism, including how it moved from the sciences to journalism in the 1920s. He also points out that “objectivity is not neutrality or disinterestedness. Those notions invite unconscious bias—the very problem the objective method or process was meant to combat.”
Rosenstiel cites David Halberstam and George Orwell and their warnings that there is a “difference between political stenography and journalism and the risk of being a mouthpiece for establishment authorities.” The extreme example of this kind of journalism is the New York Times allowing Tom Cotton to run a dangerous opinion piece. But there are countless examples of this danger in reporting today, from the Sunday shows that give airtime to both sides even when there are politicians and other public figures who provide inaccurate information to the daily political, crime, and other forms of reporting.
The Columbia Journalism Review ran a somewhat interactive “conversation” on their site that featured a few different journalists tackling this topic. The writer Will Meyers discussed his piece in The New Republic earlier this year that looked at how outlets have shied away from “describing figures on the right in unflattering terms—avoiding the words ‘lies’ or ‘racism’—because those descriptions could be seen as evidence of left-wing bias. Above all, it meant that reporters themselves could not be seen to have any political opinions, because then they would be vulnerable to accusations of impropriety, regardless of the accuracy of what they actually wrote.”
And a journalist could also potentially lose their job due to being too outspoken about their political beliefs. The Media Diversity Institute ran a piece titled “Should a Journalist Be Able to Attend a #BlackLivesMatter Protest as a Civilian” that covered how black journalists are unfairly having to assess the risks with supporting a movement they believe in because it might cost them their job or standing in their field.
What this ongoing conversation shows is that determining the “right” way to be a journalist is extremely difficult. Objectivity is an impossible ideal. However, though journalism is subjective, allowing too much subjectivity or displaying a bias can also potentially undermine credibility. And trying too hard to be objective, giving both sides time when one side is unreliable, or reporting only two sides to a story when there are many more than that, can have the consequence of furthering biases.
But I’m glad these conversations are happening, and it’s helping me improve in small ways professionally, but also as a media consumer.
A Little Bit of Culture
This Week: Palm Springs (2020)
With the movie industry at a basic standstill, there haven’t been a lot of opportunities to spotlight or discuss new films—but this week that all changes.
Last Friday, my girlfriend and I watched Palm Springs on Hulu. Palm Springs is the latest production from Lonely Island, the comedy group composed of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone. The Lonely Island didn’t write or direct the movie though—the film is the feature debut for director Max Barbakow and writer Andy Siara.
Andy Samberg is the one Lonely Island member in the movie, and serves as one of its protagonists. The other is Cristin Milioti. I won’t spoil everything, but I’ll have to spoil a little: the film is based around the “time loop” premise that was made popular and perfected by Groundhog Day. The characters in Palm Springs don’t acknowledge Groundhog Day, but the film does—there are allusions and references, specifically the “suicidal phase” that Bill Murray as Phil Connors goes through during that film.
Even though it was written by the Lonely Island, Palm Springs feels a part of their universe. There are plenty of jokes based around non-sequiturs and the sheer goofiness that Andy Samberg does so well. Samberg brings his usual trademark energy, but channels a little Chevy Chase and Bill Murray with some of his world weariness—his character has been stuck in the time loop for an unknown amount of time, while Milioti is brand new to it.
The performances are great: Milioti is a strong and nuanced female lead, J.K. Simmons kind of steals the movie in a small role, and there are great supporting and bit parts throughout. Plenty of people have made the point that the movie’s premise feels especially relevant during quarantine, but this is just a fun, entertaining, and surprisingly deep movie about human connection, loneliness, and appreciating your life that will be a great rewatch for years to come.
The Action I’ve Taken
Once again, this week I haven’t taken any action to support the ongoing effort to end racism in our country. I’m going to do better.