The ideal of objective journalism began in the 19th century. It's been questioned, it's been defied, and it's been pushed to it's limits. Yet, it persists. Brent Cunningham points out, in "Re-thinking Objectivity," that nothing better has come along to replace it. It's a good thing to strive for. Avoiding opinion in news, especially hard news, has it's advantages.
Of course, as Cunningham argues, the desire to be objective can sometimes affect the quality of investigative journalism. Tonight Josh Marshall spoke about the solution to this problem. If mainstream media is afraid to bring up issues or doesn't have the time to dig for more, there are other voices out there filling in the gaps. Independent media has less restriction, though there has to be rules to gain credibility and trust from a readership, so it can take the time and the chance to reach a little further.
Objectivity and subjectivity are both important parts of delivering and analyzing the news, but it's important to know whether your news source is meant to be factual or editorialized. Nobody is perfect and no single media outlet or individual journalist can report everything perfectly, so it's good we have a million of voices in one vibrant conversation.
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