Why Objective Reporting Is Still Important

As a journalism student at the University of South Dakota, one of the first lessons presented to me as a bright-eyed freshman was that objectivity is the golden standard when it comes to reporting. 

For those not familiar with the world of journalism, being an objective reporter means you present the story free from your personal opinions, beliefs, political biases, etc. Essentially, you're writing in a neutral manner that avoids categorizing things as good or bad.  

For example, let's say I'm a Republican who supports Ben Carson in the upcoming presidential election, and I'm reporting on a specific political stance he made against an abortion initiative, (while the Democrat candidate Bernie Sanders support it). If I were to write this article and only included Carson's point of view, or wrote in a way that makes it seem like I support Carson, this would go against the standard of objectivity, (and frankly, just bad journalism in general). 

If I were to write an objective article about this, I would first of all set aside the fact that I'm a Carson supporter, and a Republican. Next, I would learn all I could about the specific initiative, talk to the politicians who proposed it, do research on past initiatives/laws/bills regarding abortion, and talk to Carson and Sanders about their stance on the issue. 

Seems easy, right? Not necessarily. Being an objective journalist doesn't mean you simply gather information from both sides, regurgitate it in "he-said"/"she-said" style, and expect the public to gather their own assumptions. You have to provide some sort of context and color to your writing - you are not a robot.

Objective journalism has come under a lot of scrutiny lately. 

Many say that there is no way journalists can completely ditch their beliefs and set them aside at the door when they land a story. 

However, Objective Reporting believers still exist. This is an excellent post by About News that defends objectivity, and explains how reporters can integrate it into their work. 

Here's the bottom line. You can't be strayed by your own opinions and views when reporting. You have to rely on the facts you gather, the research you do, and the interviews you conduct. 

I believe that objective reporting can still exist, and that it is still important. We still need people to present information without former biases in a fair, educated manner. This can be done by better educating journalism students about what it truly means to be objective.