A previous chapter noted that news stories must be objective, or free of bias. Journalists gather information and report it as factually as possible. They should not comment, interpret or evaluate. If an issue is controversial, journalists interview representatives of all the sides involved then include as many opinions as possible. Some sources may make mistakes, and some may lie, but journalists cannot call their statements lies.
Journalists traditionally assumed, perhaps mistakenly, that if they reported all the information, their readers would think about the conflicting opinions and then decide which were most important and truthful. That has not always worked, so newspapers now publish separate stories analyzing major issues in the news. The stories, labeled “commentary” or “analysis,” critically evaluate the news to help readers better understand it.
No human can be totally objective. Families, education, personal interests and religious and political beliefs all influence how reporter’s cover stories and what stories they see as newsworthy. Nevertheless, they strive to be as impartial and objective as possible. Routine newsroom practices encourage impartiality. News stories rarely are the work of a single individual. Normally, an editor assigns a story and a reporter writes it. Several other editors may then evaluate and change it. Each serves as a check on the others. If one expresses an opinion in a story, another has a chance to detect and eliminate that bias.
Biases, whether intentional or not, often tend to appear in a story when a reporter covers only one side of an issue or gives one side disproportionately more space or time than others. Reporters may talk to more sources supporting an issue than those opposed. While it may be impossible for reporters to write about every conceivable side of an issue in their stories, they can provide readers with many sides rather than just one. By treating various sides of an issue equally and allowing partisans for each to state their case, reporters provide their audiences with facts they need to understand a story more fully. While total objectivity may be difficult to achieve, balance and fairness in a story can be achieved through thorough reporting and clear writing.
