Leonard Downie Jr., The Washington Post, January 30, 2023, reports that editors and journalists are finding “objectivity” ill-suited for the challenges of modern reporting. “They believe,” writes Downie, “that pursuing objectivity can lead to false balance or misleading ‘bothsidesism’ in covering stories about race, the treatment of women, LGBTQ+ rights, income inequality, climate change and many other subjects. And, in today’s diversifying newsrooms, they feel it negates many of their own identities, life experiences and cultural contexts, keeping them from pursuing truth in their work.” While remaining nonpartisan and avoiding expressing opinions on controversial issues and joining advocacy groups, reporters should not shrink from seeking truth anchored in evidence. Says The New York Times editor Joseph Kahn, “…I think it’s true that, when the evidence is there, we should not default to some mealy-mouthed, so-called neutral language that some people see this as a falsehood, while others do not. When the evidence is there, we should be clear and direct with our audience that we don’t think there are multiple sides to this question, this is a falsehood. And the person repeating this falsehood over and over is guilty of lying.”
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