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Every journalist is an activist for some point of view. An establishment-friendly bias is just as much a bias as anti-establishment bias. There’s nothing wrong

Every journalist is an activist for some point of view. An establishment-friendly bias is just as much a bias as anti-establishment bias. There’s nothing wrong with this—journalists are just people. But it’s dishonest to pretend that your own bias doesn’t exist and you are doing ‘objective journalism’ while other perspectives are ‘activist’. An informed reader should understand the biases present in anything they read and weigh the arguments accordingly—pretending objectivity discourages this kind of responsibility and is very harmful to good-faith discourse.

deleted 7y ago
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chiefalchemist 7y ago
Yes and no, but mostly no. Every person who is a journalist has a bias. But the point of the practice/process of journalism is to mitigate those personal influences. Just because you're investigating and writing does mean you're a journalist. Maybe you're doing glorified op-ed. Maybe you're being a wannabe reporter. But being a journaliat is a higher level. If you're not aware of the difference between op-ed, reporter, and journalism then...you're not a journalist. One of the biggest communication problems we have today is that too many assume they understand the definition of journalism (and the processess and ethics on which its built), but they do not. Yet they continue to use the word inappropriately. Others blindly follow. And so on. Long to short, people use "journalism" like they use "literally"; most of the time in the wrong way at the wrong time.
- danenania 7y ago
  I agree with the distinctions you make and that we shouldn't conflate journalism with opinion pieces. I also agree that there are huge differences in journalistic quality. But anyone who considers themselves a journalist and is operating in good faith is trying to determine and shed light on the truth, and they will all bring their own subjective beliefs to bear on this effort. My point is that just alleging the presence of bias to call a piece 'not journalism' is wrong because all journalism is biased in some way. It's a dishonest tactic that boils down to an appeal to authority.
  - chiefalchemist 7y ago
    To clarify, I agree. To further clarify, what you think I said is not what I said. The practice of journalism will not eliminate bias. Nothing can. But it can and should mitigate it. And if you're not trying to mitigate the biases, then that's not journalism. To write shamelessly with bias is not journalism. Long to short, there is a fair amount of publishing that gets called journalism, but is actually op-ed. There's nothing wrong with that per se, other than as journalism, it's fake news. The Rachael Maddow Show is not journalism; and in that context/form she is not a journalist. Many of the Fox News Shows are not journalism. Etc. Etc. Etc. The problem is too many people treat them as news and they're op-ed. Put another way, just because you agree with an opinion doesn't mean it's journalism.
    - danenania 7y ago
      Obviously, but disagreeing with a journalist’s opinions also doesn’t make them any less of a journalist if they are in fact doing journalism in good faith. I don’t watch Fox so I can’t speak to any of their shows, but from what I’ve seen of Maddow (admittedly not a lot), she is clearly doing at least some amount of journalism in terms of seeking the truth, verifying sources and facts, etc. Sure she also pushes her opinions and has an agenda, but I would argue that this is orthogonal to her journalistic integrity, which I haven’t really seen any reason to question. She is not trying to present opinions as if they were facts—she just mixes the two in a single show. Of course she is biased in what she chooses to cover, but again the point is that everyone does that to some degree. Claiming you have ‘mitigated’ your unavoidable bias is just an attempt to privilege your own perspective above others. Like science, journalism is falsifiable. If you can point to specific errors or falsehoods, you should do so. Otherwise you’re just dealing in innuendo.
- Stratoscope 7y ago
  > Long to short, people use "journalism" like they use "literally"; most of the time in the wrong way at the wrong time. You should look up "literally" in a modern dictionary. For example: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally 2 : in effect : VIRTUALLY —used in an exaggerated way to emphasize a statement or description that is not literally true or possible "will literally turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice" — Norman Cousins And an extended discussion: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/misuse-of-literally https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/misuse-of-lite... It's not unusual for a word in the English language to have its own "literal" meaning and also be used in other contexts with nearly the opposite meaning. There are literally billions of words like this! But I'll bet most people could care less.
- eropple 7y ago
  > Every person who is a journalist has a bias. But the point of the practice/process of journalism is to mitigate those personal influences. Tell that to John Updike.

deleted 7y ago

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chiefalchemist 7y ago

Yes and no, but mostly no. Every person who is a journalist has a bias. But the point of the practice/process of journalism is to mitigate those personal influences. Just because you're investigating and writing does mean you're a journalist. Maybe you're doing glorified op-ed. Maybe you're being a wannabe reporter. But being a journaliat is a higher level. If you're not aware of the difference between op-ed, reporter, and journalism then...you're not a journalist. One of the biggest communication problems we have today is that too many assume they understand the definition of journalism (and the processess and ethics on which its built), but they do not. Yet they continue to use the word inappropriately. Others blindly follow. And so on. Long to short, people use "journalism" like they use "literally"; most of the time in the wrong way at the wrong time.

danenania 7y ago
I agree with the distinctions you make and that we shouldn't conflate journalism with opinion pieces. I also agree that there are huge differences in journalistic quality. But anyone who considers themselves a journalist and is operating in good faith is trying to determine and shed light on the truth, and they will all bring their own subjective beliefs to bear on this effort. My point is that just alleging the presence of bias to call a piece 'not journalism' is wrong because all journalism is biased in some way. It's a dishonest tactic that boils down to an appeal to authority.
- chiefalchemist 7y ago
  To clarify, I agree. To further clarify, what you think I said is not what I said. The practice of journalism will not eliminate bias. Nothing can. But it can and should mitigate it. And if you're not trying to mitigate the biases, then that's not journalism. To write shamelessly with bias is not journalism. Long to short, there is a fair amount of publishing that gets called journalism, but is actually op-ed. There's nothing wrong with that per se, other than as journalism, it's fake news. The Rachael Maddow Show is not journalism; and in that context/form she is not a journalist. Many of the Fox News Shows are not journalism. Etc. Etc. Etc. The problem is too many people treat them as news and they're op-ed. Put another way, just because you agree with an opinion doesn't mean it's journalism.
  - danenania 7y ago
    Obviously, but disagreeing with a journalist’s opinions also doesn’t make them any less of a journalist if they are in fact doing journalism in good faith. I don’t watch Fox so I can’t speak to any of their shows, but from what I’ve seen of Maddow (admittedly not a lot), she is clearly doing at least some amount of journalism in terms of seeking the truth, verifying sources and facts, etc. Sure she also pushes her opinions and has an agenda, but I would argue that this is orthogonal to her journalistic integrity, which I haven’t really seen any reason to question. She is not trying to present opinions as if they were facts—she just mixes the two in a single show. Of course she is biased in what she chooses to cover, but again the point is that everyone does that to some degree. Claiming you have ‘mitigated’ your unavoidable bias is just an attempt to privilege your own perspective above others. Like science, journalism is falsifiable. If you can point to specific errors or falsehoods, you should do so. Otherwise you’re just dealing in innuendo.
Stratoscope 7y ago
> Long to short, people use "journalism" like they use "literally"; most of the time in the wrong way at the wrong time. You should look up "literally" in a modern dictionary. For example: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally 2 : in effect : VIRTUALLY —used in an exaggerated way to emphasize a statement or description that is not literally true or possible "will literally turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice" — Norman Cousins And an extended discussion: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/misuse-of-literally https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/misuse-of-lite... It's not unusual for a word in the English language to have its own "literal" meaning and also be used in other contexts with nearly the opposite meaning. There are literally billions of words like this! But I'll bet most people could care less.
eropple 7y ago
> Every person who is a journalist has a bias. But the point of the practice/process of journalism is to mitigate those personal influences. Tell that to John Updike.