What are the media outlets of any sort that could be considered the most objective?
Has there ever been a good representation of large scale truly objective journalism?
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M$7 Answers
I found the Erdos & Morgan Release of 2008- 2009 Opinion leaders.
The topic of most objective is covered here . . .
"The Most Objective:
The Week
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (PBS)
Science
Nature
The Lancet
Scientific American
NOVA (PBS)
Nation's Cities Weekly
Natural History
JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association"
http://www.erdosmorgan.com/pr/pr_20081113-1.html
Of note the "Most Credible" was a seperate category. I encourage checking out the release as it is very interesting.
Has the objectivity been diminished in journalism by media outlets being left or right leaning in their style of reporting?
Journalism has been and will be slanted as long as reporters have opinions. I could not find good information about objectivity increasing or decreasing.
Has there ever been a good representation of large scale truly objective journalism?
I think nations with free speach are more objective as they are not silenced by government, but again I don't know if truely objective reporting is a difficult to catch ideal
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M$To explain I'll take some short quotes from a recent article about journalism and democracy - the link is below.
/quote/
"It is troubling for readers that they rely heavily on feed from news services such as Australian Associated Press and public relations operatives working in corporations and elsewhere. Marketing blog The Grilling puts it neatly: "Free content is now increasingly product-led PR-supplied which – ironically – is only accelerating the decline newspapers as their disappointed readers look elsewhere for knowledge".
/unquote/
and this section
/quote/
In Australia studies started in 1993, when Rod Tiffen found that 18 per cent of newspapers contained material sourced from PR feed......More recently, a Cardiff University study found that 60 per cent of news was entirely wire service copy, Macnamara says. Only 12 per cent of news was "independently researched and written". A Washington University study found that 94 per cent of editors admitted using PR.
/unquote/
LINK:http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/democracy-needs-the-fourth-estate-in-whatever-form-it-takes-20091119-imw3.html
What does this mean to answer your question? The monetary value of news is driven more and more by specifically targeted companies and corporations. The value of the 4th estate in terms of community dissemination is diminishing each year!
Recent examples of the news driven by PR rather than service are the false media reports such as fake celebrity deaths, fake eye witness accounts ( Chk-chk boom chick ) and sponsor advertisements posing as news stories.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25527078-5012985,00.html
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fake_news
( and love the Onion piece on this too! http://www.cracked.com/article_17318_7-clearly-fake-news-stories-that-fooled-mainstream-media.html )
Sometimes companies get caught out making up news! but mostly they get away with it
http://blog.taragana.com/e/2009/11/12/studio-settlement-reported-for-fake-news-used-to-promote-movie-fourth-kind-60066/
And here you also have to take into account the type of media. I will always trust a broadsheet newspaper rather than a tabloid. I will trust a Reuters source more readily than Entertainment Tonight! The amount of advertising dollars and syndicates within media make it harder and harder to find reliable sources.
At this point in time I probably trust about 40-60% of the news, depending on source. That's it, not much more than that. My main news sources are broadsheets like NYTimes, The Age, UKTimes, SMH and a few others like Reuters never trusted FOX, never trust much US generated news at all really, would prefer an Australian source or UK source...but that's just me.
My two cents worth :)
PS - I've tutored students in this exact topic - its good to see them question sources and learn that not everything they read and see is real!
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M$
Truth is there to some extent ( mostly :) but no, we use media very differently than previous generations.
The media has always been used for 'propaganda' reasons but now its not a government using it this way, its corporations. I think that means the 4th estate takes one step back and one step sideways!
And I think we must always be a little skeptical about the news
I love The Onion. Apparently Queen Elizabeth is pregnant again. (today)
So true objectivity has been replaced for the most part by corporations trying to push a message or opinion/stance? and if all of this information is skewed by the implied directional slant of the stories and the choice of stories reported where do we find truth in media?
is there any truth.
NEW : a recent article about the power of media and democracy - Kevin Rudd became our Prime Minister by using media - the link is an example of when it bites back!
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/getting-close-to-an-editor-rudd-risks-paper-cuts-20091120-iqs4.html
If I am following correctly and government propaganda has been replaced by corporate propaganda and agenda then this is a prime example of how we are not being governed by government but by corporations, (a bit off topic I know) but this would hold sufficient quantification that for the most part corporations are now running the government. I have drawn this conclusion anyway but this manipulation of the media and separation from objectivity is just the proof.
Absolutely agree. Yes, and slightly off topic too but that's why the book The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner made me cry for shame - and that was written in the 70s. In Australia at the moment we have a few investigative journalists working for the SMH - we've had some great breakthroughs in news like showing how developers manipulate the politicians to approve massive developments the public disagree with, all sorts of things we would never know except for a few brave souls and a responsible editor. The influence for example that Rupert Murdoch had in Australia, and now in other countries, shows this trend very well. I do have sources for all this but I'd be trolling to find them all :(
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M$
I am not going give researched input here, only my own opinion (subjective, I know!)
I learned, a very long time ago (from personal experience) that even the most mundane of news stories will be used to cajole, convince and otherwise influence the masses to the ultimate benefit of some power, be it government, corporations or just the media through which that story has been broadcast.
News is all about making money, or gaining power or influence, for somebody.
If I have an interest in a particular news item (which I do not very often, I choose not to be dragged down with negativity if at all possible), I will contact some of the many internet friends I have around the world, and ask their opinion. At least that way I get subjective view from a people who have nothing to gain from giving me their opinion.
That is my book is as objective as you will get, cut out the financial gain and all you have to sift through then is how that persons opinion has been influenced.
I think you get my meaning, no objectivity exists, its all human opinion and guided by money, personal experience or a want for gain in some form or another.
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M$
And yet, there are organisations that at least try to get their facts right, try to represent differing points of view accurately, and don't assume that any one side is always right, or always good.
The most obvious and best example to my mind is the BBC.
Take these examples of their coverage of US healthcare reform...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8372210.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8160058.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8206349.stm
There is a world of difference between trying as fairly as you can to explain all the differing views, as they're doing here, and what many media sources do, making one side into heroes and the other into villains.
Apart from telling a one-sided story, a lot of media also operate on the principle "never let the facts get in the way of a good story". They'd rather tell something that sells newspapers and gets eyeballs than work to maintain a sense of proportion.
For this reason I also like The Economist.
http://www.economist.com/index.html
While it definitely has a certain outlook on the world, it starts with facts, and it will let the facts override the story it would otherwise be inclined to tell. And it won't dismiss any serious point of view without at at least explaining it carefully and examining it thoroughly.
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M$
After having spent most of the last few 4 1/2 yours online writing for different websites I find that most online freelance writing sites are going to provide the best subjective reporting.
Once in a while you will still run into those who insert to much of their own personal thoughts into a news piece but all and all most of very subjective.
Associated Content and Helium are two I publish with the most and which I stake my personal opinion from.
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M$
http://www.livestream.com/123itsallaboutme
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M$
