How can one completely eliminate any biases based concretely upon one's background or upbringing? The fact that I am a woman, for instance, intrinsically alters the perspective with which I see the world. While that should not change any reporting of facts, it could technically result in my having to write something that I don't believe in or agree with. A situation such as that could cause me to have to choose between my professional integrity and my personal integrity, which is a nearly impossible choice to make. The argument that purpose, rather than neutrality (as well as the distinction made between the two), should be the focus, helps allow me to feel confident that though my background may color my work, it will never overtake it.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Week 2 Readings
The importance of independence for journalists seems to be common sense. As I thought more and more about it, however, I realized it is more complex than it initially seems. Though many forms of independence, neutrality, and/or restriction of bias can be accomplished with seemingly minimal harm to the journalist, "independence from class or economic status" and "independence from race, ethnicity, religion, and gender" are harder to eliminate.
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I don't think you can ever completely eliminate bias because like you said things like being women are going to inherently influence our writing. I honestly think that people's views coloring their stories makes stories more interesting. It's how we get news from different perspectives. If everything was completely neutral it would make the news boring. Anyone can state the facts, it's how you state them that makes a story worth reading.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't feel like having biases are a bad thing. We can't help them. I do, however, feel that we use our biases to guide our journalistic interests, and then do our best to present facts in a way that allows consumers have their own perspectives.
ReplyDeleteRemember that it is also possible to be transparent about your standing in a story -- at least in feature or opinion writing. It's a bit harder in a straight breaking news. Have any of you ever taken an implicit bias quiz? You can find them online and they provide useful insights for journalists.
ReplyDeleteI like how you pointed out that independent journalism feels like common sense, which in itself could be argued to be a bias. I think the overarching point is it's difficult to approach a story without bringing some sort of bias to the table. But as Lindsey and Chris pointed out, isn't there some value to this? Maybe instead of thinking about bias, it could actually be viewed as perspective.
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