ABSTRACT
It is a point of pride among many journalists to maintain distance, objectivity, and noninterference in reporting the news. The general principle is one of reporters not “becoming part of the story” that they are trying to cover. We recall that Judith Miller, mentioned in Chapter Six, CASE STUDY 18, resigned her position at the New York Times for this very reason, maintaining that she had become part of the story about the CIA leak after serving jail time for refusing to reveal a confidential source. An ideal of objectivity in news reporting is presented, again by Siebert, Peterson, and Schramm, in Four Theories of the Press, when they explain:
The challenge of sustaining journalistic independence and objectivity, sticking as closely as possible to the facts in news reporting, is an essential adjunct to the primary moral obligation of professional journalists to maximize relevant truth telling in the public interest. Without maintaining high standards of objectivity, we cannot expect journalists to deliver the quality of news content that informed decision-making may require. Reporters should accordingly be aware of the ways in which critical distance and objectivity in reporting the news can be jeopardized, their need not to interfere in or become part of the stories on which they report, and to take practical precautions against challenges to epistemic independence and integrity that can unknowingly undermine their journalistic objectivity.
