Page 64 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

B as and Object v ty |

then, must be regarded as assertions of the power to define reality, rather than
legitimate claims to have accurate knowledge of it. In the view of its critics,
however, this epistemological position tends towards a self-contradictory rela-
tivism, which sees no independent way to assess the truth-value of competing
news accounts or discourses. Some analysts argue that this position leaves jour-
nalists with no mandate or motivation to attempt to distinguish between truth
and propaganda.
A third epistemology, critical realism, avoids both positivism’s l faith in su-
perficial facts, and conventionalism’s dead-end relativism. Knowledge of the
real is possible, it asserts, but only through engaging in the work of theoriz-
ing, and exploring the structures and processes that underlie individual events.
From this standpoint, news reporting may be criticized not because objectivity
is impossible in principle, or because individual journalists or news reports have
departed from the (otherwise desirable and achievable) standards of objectiv-
ity but because the structures and procedures of actually existing journalism
constitute a deficient form of objectivity. This standpoint offers some sophisti-
cated critiques of the objectivity regime as generating, paradoxically, ideological
accounts of the world, accounts that are partial and one-sided, or that rein-
force existing relations of power. One line of critique suggests that objectivity
serves to disguise the value assumptions and commitments that unavoidably
influence the selection and presentation, the framing, of news reports. Reports
may quote “both sides” in a controversy, thus appearing to be balanced and
impartial while at the same time confining the definition of what is at issue,
and marginalizing other perspectives. Thus, U.S. television reports of the Iraq
war policy often feature Democratic and Republican party leaders criticizing
each other, while leaving unexamined their shared assumption that what is at
stake is how to achieve victory or reduce American casualties, rather than, for
example, reducing Iraqi suffering or strengthening international law.

rECEnT ChaLLEngEs anD ConTExTs
Arguably, objectivity has remained a dominant norm in North American
journalism during much of the past century because it has served a variety of
functions and interests. Because objectivity allows press reporting to appear as
if it does not favor one opinion over another, it is able to amass broad audi-
ences. The proclamation of professional standards provides political legitimacy
for the monopoly press, and by simply presenting the voices of different politi-
cians, the claim to objectivity helps define and manage the relationship between
reporters and their political sources. Journalism scholar Gaye Tuchman’s semi-
nal work detailed how objectivity enhances journalists’ claim to professional-
ism, and constitutes a “strategic ritual” that protect them from such hazards as
lawsuits and editors’ reprimands.
Yet current developments in the political economy of news media are poten-
tially undermining the objectivity regime. The internet facilitates the diffusion
of opinion and personal experience, blurs the distinction between produc-
ers and audiences, and bypasses journalists as professional gatekeepers. The