Charlotte Wien, Ph.D, Associate Professor, Department of Journacal sch - PDF document

3 Charlotte Wien, Ph.D, Associate Professor, Department of Journacal schools. It argues that the concept of objectivity in journpositivistic tradition and, furthermore, that it is strongly related to tan earlier theoreticalschool within historiography. Journalism has made several attemcessful, however. The paper discusses each of these attempts. Finally, using the concept termed a landscape of jour-nalism theory.Key Words: objectivity, positivism, journalism, historyIntroductionpresent true pictures of reality. No one would have use for journalism if the journalists false pictures of unre-ality. Concepts such as ‘truth’ and ‘reality’ cannot be separatobjectivity. Hence, if one can speak of a paradigm within journWithin journalism, there exist several schools which have attemd Reporting). To this is what usually occurswhen practitioners – such as journalists – need a theory.The purpose of this article is precisely to show how the aforem schools. With a point of departure in the concept of objectivity, I will endeavour toory.One can assert that this effort is a waste of time: journalism journalism is pure fantasy.On further examination, however, this position proves untenable and and, as a professionaloperationalised, unless journalism is willing to admit that it is totally devoid of ideas.in journalism was offered at the University of Missouri (at Col in 1883 ( 2003). At that time, the discipline resembled to a great degreMainstream Journalism is represented by professional norms and information inofficial places, and presents that information in particular ways (HindmanJust 40 years earlier, positivism had been and described as a scientific theo-rup 2000:289). I argue here that most journalism,of objectivity.of human knowledge (Hackett and Zhao 1998:109-110; Kjjective. To be subjective is to say that ones own assessments (attitudes and values) haveinfluence on knowledge. To be objective is to say that one is cwhich is not affected by oneexperienced directly, that which others would be able to know in precisely the same way. evidence of conditions that anyone opinions emerges clearly and accords precisely with the positivges clearly and accords precisely with the positivreport, damnit! People won’t give a shit about what you think. They want tofrom the Danish). distil their ownIn practice, however, it is not so simple to distinguish betwee precisely uponthe idea of what we now know, with rather great certainty, namely, that facts dorecordability underlying, butnus et al. 1979:11;journalism, like science, has found it very difficult to tackle some cases. For instance,It is thus difficult to distinguish between opinions and descriptions of reality.abstract construction without practical significance? We must cchapter by presenting three arguments for maintaining the distifacts and opinions (1986:11; my translation from the Swedish).reality are affected by their opinions. However, this does not in social science. I did so because I distrusted the cant of in social science. I did so because I distrusted the cant of rejection of the value-free ideal. The ideal is so powerful that its critics often believe in it despitethemselves. [...] I shall define ‘objectivity’ as the view that one can and should Writing History and Journalism ResearchOn two other very prominent points, journalism is affected by idiscipline of historiy. In the following, I will argue that the borrowings are the cast-offsof history.Geschichte der romanischen und germanischen VölkerWie es eigentlich gewesenries) of earlier eras and certainly not as reality, as the histit: they believed that the task of the discipline of history, awere, so to say, pieces ofthe puzzle of the past, and when collected in the right way, on the 1900s and espe-cially in the 1960s, it became increasingly clear to the historians that this task was notuninteresting. To concern oneself with the past is interesting Within journalism, the belief in the possibility of describing , appears ever more frequently. In the following, I will hold mI therefore sat myself down at my desk and began to write down how it had been,for nearly thirty years in any case, before I, too, had forgottSwartz thus sets for himself the rather imposing task of describing how it really was fors history. The second example is from Nybroe andMylenberg key Danishpoliticians during the campaign. To describe the reality that mperception of reality..We emphasise that this book is not the truth. There can have occurred awhole lot during the campaign which for different reasons we hain discovering (Nybroe and Mylenberg 2002:8-9, emphasis in orig Even though Nybroe and Mylenberg attempt a delimitation of the truth), both books nevertheless attempt reconstructions of the pastticism of positiv- sources are equally good when one works with a journalistic product or relative truth valueAmong historians, source classification up through the 1960s led to vehement dis-cussions because it is not possible to undertake such a definitive classification ofdifferently depending on how they are used, i.e., dependent on own teaching in source overhead diagram withOn Friday, February 6, 2004, Charlotte had an apple with her, as she was goingshe wanted to use it to reveal the differences between material evidence and accounts. Therefore she let the apple core remain on the table account. This is not necessarily true, for if the piece of the pastching hour, then thethe first-hand witness as having the greatest (truth) value (Fink, Manniche et al. nevertheless included in Like researchers, however, journalists are not (all) empty-headtempts to renounce the positivist ideal of objectivity within scientific research has alsoAccuracy, Fairness and Balance: Journalism Tries to Break with tivist paradigm of objectivity.The exercise consists of continuing to retain journalisms legitimacy, but at the same so in a manner whichbunch of equally problematic concepts, which only contributed tctivity.eral Nordic researchers in the 1970s and early 1980s. Hence, We. WesterstWestersts Objectivety Concept, Adapted from Westersthl (1983:405)FactualityImpartialityTruthRelevanceBalance/non-NeutralpartisanshippresentationWith the point of departure in the concepts of truth, relevance, balance, and neutralpresentationher,Westerst the level of objectivity of newstivist legacy. We assert that a program is objective to the extent the following conditions a(I)it contains assertions.(II)it is (III)it assertions.(IV)it is thorough. objectivity continueWhen writing a story, journalists often balance the opposing si for fairness. Fairness and objectivity go together. Scholar JaObjectivity is about informing the public; it tells us to worry aboutthings like accuracy, balance and fairness (Shaw, McCombs et al. 1997:303). more or less fair. And that actually mean. is defined primarily on the basis of its opposite: a story is of whether the story is when one is carefulis content only to reiterate theAs should be clear, it is a closed circle, where the positivist faith in the possibilitythis way, the journalistic objectivity paradigm has not moved a single inch (Hackett andZhao 1998:113ff).On the background of this review, it could seem that I am asserdaily work. However, this is a distorted picture: in the humani Lippmann, Precision Journalism and Computer-Assisted ReportingOthers have also attempted to rescue journalism from its legitimacy problem in connec-tion with the concept of objectivity. Holbert and Zubric (2000) believe that it was pre-explains why journalism was drawn in (at least) three different directions up through thegeneralise and operationalise the concept of objectivity. Furthby journalists today, though efforts have been made to revitalize it (Bro 1998:87-101).only serious attempt to break with objectivity. However, New Jolimited influence in the United States, where it was born in the 1960s and 1970s, andit has practically no influence in Denmark. New Journalism was ing; it takes its ideas from contemporary scientific theoretica share an opposition to the positivist objectivism paradigm.value-free terms, the opposing would assert that this is not possible. Our view ofthe world is affected and masked by all kinds of learned categobut rather, what we can say about it with the help of differentmotive, which couldtransport our understanding of the real world further, the othe see language as a terrorist if we a freedom fighter if that is what we choose to call him. In thway, we must also reject every hope of being able to represent anything objectively. in themselves, butinteresting to study as signs. In this way, only the signs beco the question of what is Regarding the question of how the aforemen-tioned schools affect journalism, Andrnus et al. (1979:11-12) observe:ity, entirely inde- insights.But large groups of journalists and others working in the mass this confrontation very closely. And they therefore went furthejournalist cannot be objective at all either. It is in itself a violation of the free-dom of expression to want to imagine being objective. Yes, it i though his involvement (Andral. 1979:11-12; my translation from the Danish).According to Lippmann, the general citizenry had neither the time, the ability at least in Lippmann (1922) had to be boards of expertswho could distill the evidence and offer the residue facts (Pet professional speciali-The idea behind this, in simplified terms, is that if the journalist borrows most of hissame degree of objectivity as the sciences. Streckenfuss (1990) describes how Lippmannargued that journalism should utilise scientific methods in ord are significant.Adapting scientific method for human affairs including journalism was cen- was cen-s he [Lippmann]envisioned it, would not create passive justification for the status quo, as is oftenassumed now. Those advancing the idea of applying scientific me in all areas, not just journalism were political liberals. Theyattempted to create a system of values using scientific method, borrowing fromthe philosophy of pragmatism expounded by William James and its variant,With the clear connection to the positivist scientific ideal, oquietly forgotten. However, this seems not to have been the casthe former, Meyer writes thatThis is not a new idea. Walter Lippmann noted seventy years ago that journa- that journa-] Scientific methodoffers a way to make happenings objectified, measured, and name apparently welcomesjournalism. He notes that Precision Journalism means treating journalism as if it werescience, adopting scientific method, scientific objectivity, anNew Precision Journalism (1989) is funda- to be able to process large amounts of numerical data in order Ironically, [Meyer (Cox 2000:6).It is therefore debatable whether there is a difference in kind or only a difference ofat they do it differ- database tools and on-linestructing the reader in the use of the computer. In a newly revised edition, however, the words in one hand and a social science methodology text book in the other.Another manifestation of the Lippmannian ideal of forging close in Journalism Studiesare and were far more looser than the connection to the academic world as it has devel-Furthermore, a close examination of the curricula in Odense sholevel. At the undergraduate level, the student receives instrucThe Journalistic Toolss only graduate-level training withinbest Lippmanian sense, is to give the journalism graduate specific expertise in a topi-cal speciality which he can cultivate independently later on us the paradigm of to train objective journalists in a positivist sense. We have tThe Journalistic Theoretical Map1970 Phillip Meyer:Precision Journalism1850 Emergence of Positivism and1920 Lippman:Scientific JournalismJournalism1920 Public JournalismPublic Journalism1960 New Journalism long as one utilises the along with the everyday thinking and to create close bonds to positivism.Rather, it is that a great deal of journalism is apparently not aware of where the conceptSchudson (1990) is probably correct when he emphasizes how diffoff positivism in both journalism and scientific work. So even though journal like seems to continue to find itself on the highway of positivism, and even from this highway have shown themselves to end in blindplified pictures of much too small bits of reality. Perhaps jou and with them, which had provided the theoretical foun- it had been affected instead of positivism it employed ideas ofOn the one occasion when journalism proceeded to go off the hige a fundamentally differentjournalism. New Journalism never became a thundering success, probably because ofactually worth a try.1.Kj calls Ranke a historicist. Thisdistinction is not found in P.H. Hansen (1999), who calls him a positivist. In the following, I will ally2.To my knowledge there are no standadised translation of the conceptual pair and for and accounts for beretning3.While the students are reading the overhead, I eat the apple 4.This section builds on the work of Hackett and Zhao (1998).5.Hansen (1999) has dealt with the phenomenon of Virtual Worlds Avtars to marry in a grand internet-based wedding ceremony.ReferencesDen Skinbarlige Virkelighed Om valg af samfundsvidenskabelige metoderberg: Samfundslitteratur.n, G.P. Hem Objektivitet og journalistisk formidlingBro, P. (1998) ger.The Development of Computer-Assisted ReportingDeFleur, M.H. (1997) Computer-Assisted Investigative ReportingHackett, R.A. & Zhao, Y. (1998) Sustaining Democracy. Journalism and the Politics of Objectivit. To-Hansen, K. (1999) Trinket og Midnight Madness blev gift eller blev de? Cyberkultur og Teknologi,Hansen, P.H. (1999) En metodebog in spe?!. http://www.sdu.dk/hu 75(1): 177-193.ective & Public Journalism Techniques,Newspaper Research Journal 21(4): 50-67.Nordicom Information 3(21): 87-Meyer, P. (1989) The New Precision Journalism. Bloomington: IndMulvad, N. & Svith, F.T. (1998) Vagthundens nye bolig. rhus: Ajour.Mulvad, N. & Svith, F.T. (2002) Vagthund i vidensamfundet. Guide til computerstttet journalistikAjour. Nybroe, J. & Mylenberg, T. (2002) En anden sandhed. Om toppolitikere i valgkampPetersen, J.H. (2003) Lippmann Revisited. A Comment 80 Years Su 4(2): 249-259.Writing and Reporting News: A Coaching Method. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Com-pany.Origins of the Ideal of Objectivity in the Professions. Studies in the History of Ame-. New York and London: Garland Publishing.Shaw, D.L., McCombs, M. et al. (1997) spect Heights: Waveland Press. a Reassessment. n, T. (1986) Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell LUfer, N. (2001) rhus: Ajour.WesterstCommunication Research 10(3): 403-424. Current Conferencesfrom Nordicom’s HomepageCairo, EgyptThe International Association for Communication Reswill be held in Cairo.Detailed information will be available on the web site of IAMCR in November.International Association for Communication Research / IAMCRhttp://www.iamcr.net/index.htm Germany2006 is‘Networking Communication Research’. Plenary Speakers arHabermas, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universtät, Frankfurt, Germanyhttp://www.icahdq.org/events/futureconf.html August 2-4 2006San Antonio,The advent of a new era of telecommunication and huTexas, USAwith it questions of identity, competency, language, ethics, community, power,Association for Intercultural Communication Studies / IAICS is Communication, and Cultural Identity’.International Association for Intercultural Communication Studihttp://www.trinity.edu/org/ics/Trinity-2006-conf.html http://www.nordicom.gu.se/