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The Washington Post suggests that newsrooms
must shun ‘objectivity’ to build trust

Original Article

Posted By: FlyRight, 2/28/2023 10:16:23 AM

Leonard Downie Jr., the former executive editor of The Washington Post and professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, recently attempted to make a case against objectivity in the pages of the Washington Post. You read that correctly, a senior newsman is now against objectivity. His January 30 piece launches as follows:  “…Increasingly, reporters, editors, and media critics argue that the concept of journalistic objectivity is a distortion of reality.

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Reply 1 - Posted by: formerNYer 2/28/2023 10:21:32 AM (No. 1413813)
First of all the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism is an oxymoron, Old walt was as liberal as they come and didn't raise to the top of the Commie Broadcast System by being objective and unbias. The WaPoop is not fit to be bird cage liner and just more proof that liberalism is a mental illness.
20 people like this.

Reply 2 - Posted by: MarkTwain 2/28/2023 10:29:59 AM (No. 1413821)
Brilliant! You've lost our trust due to your lack of objectivity and you expect to gain our trust by doubling down on what lost our trust in the first place. I predict great success for you. Until it all blows up in your faces. Can't happen soon enough.
15 people like this.

Reply 3 - Posted by: john56 2/28/2023 10:33:10 AM (No. 1413824)
Even Pravda didn't tell the people they had to lie to them for "their own good." They lied, but they didn't feel the need to excuse their lies. I'm not sure I like this "yes, we lied, but we had to do it for you." groveling that the drive-by media seems to enjoy.
12 people like this.

Reply 4 - Posted by: Mcscow sailor 2/28/2023 10:37:02 AM (No. 1413826)
Good luck with that approach. It worked so well for Dan Rather.
7 people like this.

Reply 5 - Posted by: Talk2 2/28/2023 10:45:15 AM (No. 1413829)
Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather cost the lives of American military during Vietnam and now we need more liars like those two to gain the trust of the public? ROFLMAO!
11 people like this.

Reply 6 - Posted by: MindMadeUp 2/28/2023 11:14:33 AM (No. 1413842)
Weird. If they're not objective, why would we trust them...?
7 people like this.

Reply 7 - Posted by: plainjane 2/28/2023 11:28:45 AM (No. 1413848)
A very simple and basic fact is that trust is built only on truth.
8 people like this.

Reply 8 - Posted by: davew 2/28/2023 11:36:09 AM (No. 1413851)
The opposite of objectivity is bias. To understand how this changes the relationship of the press to society you need to understand the writing of the contemporary philosopher, Jurgen Habermas. He described two types of human reasoning that are used by a society to collectively make decisions and plans. The first is strategic action and the second is communicative action. Here's a good description of the difference. "Strategic action is purposive-rational action oriented towards other persons from a utilitarian point of view, for example calculative manipulation of others. In other words, an actor who acts strategically is primarily trying to achieve his own ends. In contrast, communicative action is oriented towards mutual conflict resolution through compromise. Actors here do not primarily aim at accomplishing their own success, but want to harmonize their plans of actions with the other participants " The press has abandoned communicative action which has been the foundation of the American experience and its freedom of the press. They have adopted strategic action which is the foundation of advertising, state propaganda, and totalitarian control of society.
7 people like this.

Reply 9 - Posted by: Strike3 2/28/2023 12:21:29 PM (No. 1413876)
Yeah, that has worked very well for the WaPo and the NYT. We trust you as much as we do excited rattlesnakes.
4 people like this.

Reply 10 - Posted by: Newtsche 2/28/2023 12:35:48 PM (No. 1413880)
If you see fallacy of such thinking, not only don't you matter, you're a problem.
2 people like this.

Reply 11 - Posted by: Luandir 2/28/2023 12:56:18 PM (No. 1413893)
I think the public's trust is going to move in the opposite direction to what these elites expect.
1 person likes this.

Reply 12 - Posted by: Frederic F. Frew 2/28/2023 1:15:21 PM (No. 1413899)
When Downie was editor of the Post he famously said objectivity was so important that he didn't even vote, lest that affect his judgment in guiding the paper's political coverage. They were never particularly objective, but he should have quit while he was ahead.
2 people like this.

Reply 13 - Posted by: EQKimball 2/28/2023 1:44:23 PM (No. 1413925)
Having graduated long ago from J-school as a senior editor of my college daily, certain standards of objectivity had been drilled into us. Report all sides to a story. Even if you think the coach or university president should be fired, it is not your job to give a slant into your story that supports your personal opinion. That is the role of an opinion columnist. Cover all news, not just the news that supports your opinions. Reporters never correct a statement, e.g. "Jones said (quote), but numerous credible studies say otherwise." That, too, is editorializing for the op-ed page. Never use "pointed out," "noted the obvious," "stated tactfully," "drawing upon his expertise," etc. Do not bury inconvenient facts deep in the story. News stories, as distinguished from features, state who, what, when, where, and how. So simple, so fair, so objective.
5 people like this.

Reply 14 - Posted by: TJ54 2/28/2023 3:03:10 PM (No. 1413969)
LOL! Objectivity has never been the leftwing media's strongsuit
1 person likes this.

Reply 15 - Posted by: Penney 2/28/2023 3:42:45 PM (No. 1414003)
Parse, "propaganda!' The MSM's dictatorial tool is quite a weapon against freedom, eh?
0 people like this.

Reply 16 - Posted by: DVC 2/28/2023 5:01:29 PM (No. 1414064)
The ComPost has NEVER been objective, at least in my entire adult lifetime.
0 people like this.

Reply 17 - Posted by: Norway 2/28/2023 5:24:21 PM (No. 1414072)
You build trust by telling the truth. Everyone knows this but sociopaths a the WaPo.
1 person likes this.

Reply 18 - Posted by: Aubreyesque 2/28/2023 8:51:46 PM (No. 1414201)
Mamas', don't let your babies grow up to be Journos... (h/t to Willie Nelson)
1 person likes this.

Reply 19 - Posted by: RWPollock 3/1/2023 7:06:50 AM (No. 1414465)
How did this people get a journalistic degree? Lack of objectivity is killing CNN. A modern day example and he still makes suck idiotic statements. Objectivity sells news but not entertainment broadcasting trying to disguise itself as news. He is getting the two confused.
1 person likes this.

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