Abstract
In “Objectivity in Journalism,” Steven Maras tackles the seemingly impossible task of consolidating debates surrounding journalistic objectivity. Maras, a Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications at the University of Sydney-Australia, summarizes decades of academic research and professional practices related to journalistic objectivity, including its history, its criticisms, and its defenses.
Maras organizes his book based on common questions that guide objectivity research. These eight questions form the book’s eight chapters:
Why and when did journalistic objectivity arise?
What are the main objections to journalistic objectivity?
Why is there so much dispute over “the facts”?
What are the grounds on which journalistic objectivity has been defended?
Is objectivity a passive or active process?
Can objectivity coexist with political or ethical commitment?
Is objectivity changing in an era of 24/7 news and online journalism?
Is objectivity a universal journalistic norm?
As one might expect, the answer to each question is, in essence, “it depends.” As Maras explains, “In posing each question, my aim is not to provide a simple yes or no answer, but to explore different issues and examine the way different writers respond to the topic.” In examining these areas, he discusses objectivity in terms of values, procedures, language, and culture.
The book is more comprehensive than most discussions and analyses of objectivity. Rather than being purely critical or purely defensive, it provides a more nuanced discussion of this ever-popular topic of study. Maras says his goal is to “historicize and contextualize” research on journalistic objectivity. Through the book’s encyclopedia-like, extended literature review format, he presents the complicated landscape of journalistic objectivity research in an easy-to-read format. One of the most useful contributions to the research is his analysis of non-U.S. media outlets, including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Al-Jazeera, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). He also brings the discussion of objectivity into the era of online journalism, which he says “forces journalism ethics to confront questions of pluralism, dialogue, collaboration, and transparency.”
By nature of its scope, the book addresses issues that could be more or less familiar to different readers. Because of that, certain chapters can be a bit too elementary for people who have already studied aspects of objectivity. The content is not necessarily unique, in itself, but the book is unique in its consolidation of such a wide range of material.
Objectivity in Journalism provides a useful contribution to the objectivity literature. The eight chapters essentially stand alone—Maras specifically notes they can be read out of order—so this could be a useful reading for a journalism ethics course. Chapters could be read weekly, or students could each be assigned a different chapter to present to the class. It would also make a useful reading for a philosophy course, as it includes overviews of various movements that apply beyond journalism, including pragmatism and realism.
In all, Maras provides an excellent overview and synthesis of research that explores the complexity and nuance of journalistic objectivity.