Table Of ContentNews with a View
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News with a View
Essays on the Eclipse
of Objectivity
in Modern Journalism
Edited by BURTON ST. JOHN III and
KIRSTEN A. JOHNSON
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
News with a view : essays on the eclipse of objectivity in modern
journalism / edited by Burton St. John III and Kirsten A.
Johnson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-6589-7
softcover : acid free paper
¡. Journalism—Objectivity. I. St. John, Burton, ¡957–
II. Johnson, Kirsten A., ¡974–
PN4784.O24N48 2012
070.4'42—dc23 20¡2005697
BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
© 2012 Burton St. John III and Kirsten A. Johnson. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, i ncluding photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without p ermission in writing from the publisher.
Front cover design by David K. Landis (Shake It Loose Graphics)
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
To my wife, Dana, who has been a consistent source
of support and encouragement. And to my children,
Melissa and Aaron, who keep teaching me the
value of listening.—Burton St. John III
To my husband and best friend, Scott, who has always
supported me. I know I wouldn’t be where I am today
without his constant encouragement.
And to my daughter Sarah, who has gracefully tolerated
being dragged along to classes, meetings, and presentations
over the past 10 years. You’re truly the best girl
in the world!—Kirsten A. Johnson
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Table of Contents
Introduction: Challenges for Journalism in a Post-Objective Age
BURTON ST. JOHN III and KIRSTEN A. JOHNSON 1
Part I. Historical Perspectives 9
1. “Gagged, Mincing Neutrality”: Horace Greeley on Advocacy
Journalism in the Early Years of the Penny Press
DAXTON R. “CHIP” STEWART 11
2. The Pride and Reward of Falisfication: Post-Objectivity as
Post-Responsibility
AARON BARLOW 26
3. A New Model of Objectivity: Investigative Reporting in the
Twentieth Century
GERRY LANOSGA 42
Part II. Contemporary Examinations 59
4. Conversational Journalism and Journalist-Audience Relations:
New Rules, New Voices
DOREEN MARCHIONNI 61
5. The Sociality of News Sociology: Examining User Participation
and News Selection Practices in Social Media News Sites
SHARON MERAZ 78
6. Why Contribute? Motivations and Role Conceptions among
Citizen Journalists
DEBORAH S. CHUNG and SEUNGAHN NAH 97
7. Morality, the News Media, and the Public: An Examination
of Comment Forums on U.S. Daily Newspaper Websites
SERENA CARPENTER and ROBIN BLOM 116
vii
viii Table of Contents
Part III. Global Considerations 133
8. Post-Objectivity and Regional Russian Journalism
WILSON LOWREY and ELINA ERZIKOVA 135
9. Journalism from the Perspective of “We”: How Group
Membership Shapes the Role of the Community Journalist
JOHN A. HATCHER 153
10. Engagement as an Emerging Norm in International News
Agency Work
JOHN JIRIK 170
Part IV. Objectivity and Theory 187
11. Why Objectivity Is Impossible in Networked Journalism
and What This Means for the Future of News
DAVID MICHAEL RYFE 189
12. Disrespecting the Doxa: The Daily Show Critique of CNN’s
Struggle to Balance Detachment and Connectedness
BURTON ST. JOHN III 205
13. Gatekeeping in the Digital Age: A New Model for a
Post-Objective World
KIRSTEN A. JOHNSON 222
14. Contemporary News Production and Consumption:
Implications for Selective Exposure, Group Polarization,
and Credibility
ETHAN HARTSELL, MIRIAM J. METZGER and ANDREW J.
FLANAGIN 238
About the Contributors 259
Index 263
Introduction:
Challenges for Journalism
in a Post-Objective Age
Many people will say that journalistic objectivity is impossible. Every
decision a reporter makes, about which quote to use, etc.—is a subjective
one.... But at its core, journalism is about finding out the truth, whenever
that is humanly possible. So that is the profession’s most important man-
date.
—Mark Jurkowitz, Pew Research Center,
Washington Postonline, October 23, 2008
The concept of objectivity provides ... journalists with distinct profes-
sional norms to guide their daily practices, while it also serves the public
good. Indeed, by revealing the truth to an audience, objective journalists
can pride themselves on unveiling ... what some would like to leave in
the dark, to hide from the public.
—Sandrine Boudana, New York University, 2011
For decades, the field of journalism has maintained that it uniquely offers
news consumers daily accounts that are accurate representations of truth.
Modern journalism, most notably since the end of World War I, has justified
that claim by pointing to its adherence to objectivity—a stance that asserts
that journalists, as dispassionate chroniclers, provide the facts, data, experts,
and context that news consumers need to understand the day’s events.
But there are signs that the primacy of the objectivity orientation is not
enough to meet the needs of today’s citizens. News consumers increasingly
maintain that they do not have a press that provides them with the credible
information they need to make decisions in a democracy. In late 2009, the
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press revealed that 63 percent of
Americans say news stories are often incorrect (Public evaluations, 2009). Not
surprisingly, many Americans indicate an aversion to traditional news
accounts; an early 2010 Pew survey found that only a little more than half of
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