Is there ever true objectivity?

Journalists have always been told to be "objective" when writing stories, not to be biased, not to have a point of view. But is this really realistic? No. Everyone has a point of view on anything they read or write about, there is no possible way to be truly objective.

When I pull up the objective in the dictionary, the synonyms are: impartial, fair, impersonal, disinterested.

Can you really be impersonal or disinterested in a story you are writing about? Isn't what makes a story good and captivating the fact the the writer IS interested in what they are writing about? Yes. If a writer isn't interested in the topic they are writing about, it's going to be a pretty boring story. Not only that, they shouldn't be writing the story if it's something that doesn't interest them. 

I think that David Weinberger, in his blog "Joho the blog" has the right idea when he says, "transparency is the new objectivity."

When you think about it, the only way to be anywhere near objective is to expose your biases when writing a story. This allows people to take your biases into consideration, and weight them as they may when reading a story.


"Transparency gives the reader information by which she can undo some of the unintended effects of the ever-present biases. Transparency brings us to reliability the way objectivity used to."
Some people say that by being transparent, you are creating a situation where people don't trust your writing, but I think the opposite is true: By being transparent, your writing is even more trustworthy, because you are showing your views and writing as objectively as possible.

"Transparency puts within the report itself a way for us to see what assumptions and values may have shaped it, and lets us see the arguments that the report resolved one way and not another. Transparency — the embedded ability to see through the published draft — often gives us more reason to believe a report than the claim of objectivity did. "

This statement couldn't be more true. By creating transparency, it shows that you are not hiding anything, that you are being honest with your readers, and therefore making what you write more credible. By having links, exposing your biases, it is less likely that something written is bogus. Yes, this sometimes happens, and most likely always will, but transparency decreases the chances.

Transparency is the only way to get anywhere near objectivity. By revealing sources, creating links, presenting both sides of an argument, giving evidence, etc., you get closer to objectivity than we ever could before.

Without transparency, there is no way that a writer can be objective. No where in the SPJ Code of Ethics does it call for a journalist to be objective, but calls for honesty and truth.

Transparency is the basis of honesty in writing, it is being fair to the readers and being fair is reporting and interpreting information.

Times are changing. There has never been any real objectivity in journalism, and now people are beginning to realize this. Transparency is the new objectivity, and will help journalism for decades to come.