Feb 17, 2010

Atlanta mag objects to "objective reality"

The Atlanta Progressive News recently fired senior staff writer Jonathan Springston because he had the temerity to believe that reporters could be objective.

From the APN press release (via Creative Loafing):
At a very fundamental, core level, Springston did not share our vision for a news publication with a progressive perspective. He held on to the notion that there was an objective reality that could be reported objectively, despite the fact that that was not our editorial policy at Atlanta Progressive News. It just wasn’t the right fit. ...

We believe there is no such thing as objective news. Typically, mainstream media presents itself as objective but is actually skewed towards promoting the corporate agenda of the ultra-wealthy.
APN certainly has a right to pursue its political vision as it sees fit (although it's opinion about objectivity in news seems highly subjective). But we should expect these fissures in reality to grow and to consume more professional journalists.

The idea that there is a field of reason where all sides can meet is falling out of fashion. Increasingly, journalists are being asked to choose sides (usually partisan), which is especially difficult for people who subscribe to the belief that all sides are equally flawed.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

don't forget, Gary, the idea of objective journalism is a relatively new one in newspapers. Hearst and Pulitzer were happily printing their slanted stories with no pretense of objectivity as recently as the 1930s. and one need only look to Europe to see subjective journalism that is mainstream rather than "alternative."