Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-02-22
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Journalism 101: The myth of objectivity
by Tracy Baim, Windy City Times
2012-07-11

This article shared 4481 times since Wed Jul 11, 2012
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


Brian Williams is a straight white man. Barbara Walters is a straight white woman. Both make a very good living.

These facts inform who they are, what sources they seek out, what social circles they travel in and what slant they may present in their stories.

The myth of some level of journalist objectivity is quite old-fashioned. In my journalism school days (1980-1984), I knew it was an impossible achievement, and that the main goal was to acknowledge your bias and try to do your best to get all sides of a story. I was an out lesbian back then, and did not see much of a future for myself in journalism. I had been warned, nicely, that I likely would not fit into the mainstream media.

Anderson Cooper had many reasons for not officially coming out of the closet as a gay man during his first decades in the news business. But I think one of the most overriding was his fear that he would not be taken seriously as a journalist, nor seen as "objective" when doing reports, if he was "a gay journalist."

This is why it was so important that he come out—not just to show that he was not ashamed of being gay, although that is very important. It's because of these powerful, and mistaken, myths that a straight person can be more objective than a gay person; a white person can be more objective than a person of color; a man more objective than a woman; and so on.

This fallacy has kept down many great journalists. There were reporters who were out of the closet and, so, not allowed to cover gay stories. Is someone who is straight (or closeted) any more able to cover a gay story? Every reporter has a long list of bias points. It is time we shatter this notion that being part of a minority group means you should not be able to cover that group.

As a side note I also want to comment on the fact that just because LGBTs can hide, should we? As a wealthy white man, Anderson Cooper had the option that many others do not. Women and people of color usually can't hide these traits (though some have "passed" as white and/or male at great emotional expense). It is very important that we as a community don't use this ability to "hide"—not just for our own community's sake, but for our own personal sake. The closet is damaging to those on both sides.

As a lesbian journalist working in LGBT newspapers since 1984, I have witnessed a tremendous shift in how LGBTs in the media have been welcomed. Back then, working in gay media was almost a death knell to one's journalism career. Now, it can be a stepping stone. Back then, the mainstream media looked down at journalists in the gay media as biased. Well, they may still do this, but there is more respect and attention, and there are even awards and associations that welcome the diversity of alternative media.

The myth of objectivity is also not some philosophical debate—it actually can cause damage. Finding the truth of a story does not always mean two sides, or all sides, are equal. There is an interesting example on Wikipedia about the goal of objectivity going too far: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivity_(journalism).

"Another example of an objection to objectivity, according to communication scholar David Mindich, was the coverage that the major papers (most notably the New York Times) gave to the lynching of thousands of African Americans during the 1890s. News stories of the period often described with detachment the hanging, immolation and mutilation of people by mobs. Under the regimen of objectivity, news writers often attempted to balance these accounts by recounting the alleged transgressions of the victims that provoked the lynch mobs to fury. Mindich argues that this may have had the effect of normalizing the practice of lynching."

These days, I think we can agree that blaming the victim of a lynching would be objectivity gone wild. But there are still examples of the media quoting anti-gays as a way to seem objective on a story about gay marriage. I don't know when the moment came and went, but at some point there was enough acceptance of interracial marriage that the media stopped quoting racists on that issue with no sense of having failed in the quest for balance.

I understand that a mainstream paper has a different audience than a gay paper. But at some point, anti-gay sources, racist sources, sexist sources and the like present a dilemma for those who seek more than some unattainable "objectivity," but rather the truth. There will always be someone on the "other side" of most issues, including those who argue the earth is flat, the ozone layer is fine and Obama is not an American. But are all these sources equal?

I welcome Anderson Cooper into this new society of openly gay journalists wading through the murky pool of new journalism. It's where we strive to tell stories with as much skill as we can, knowing that there is no way to please all viewers or readers, but that we can try to do the best stories we can, based on our whole selves.

Tracy Baim is co-founder and publisher of Windy City Times. This article by Tracy Baim appeared first at www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-baim/anderson-cooper-and-journ_b_1646126.html .


This article shared 4481 times since Wed Jul 11, 2012
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Raoul responds to Archdiocese of Chicago's comments about child sex-abuse report 2023-05-26
--From a press release - Chicago — Attorney General Kwame Raoul today released the following statement expressing surprise and dismay at comments made by Cardinal Blase Cupich. In comments to the media, Cardinal Cupich claims to have been unaware of names ...


Gay News

GLAAD ceremony honors celebrities and welcomes TGNC state reps 2023-05-14
- On May 13, GLAAD announced recipients for the final 18 of this year's 33 categories of the 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York City. Maren Morris accepted GLAAD's Excellence in Media Award, introduced by ...


Gay News

FDA changes 40-year blood donation guidelines to focus on behavior, not orientation or identity; GLAAD responds 2023-05-11
--From a press release - (New York, NY - Thursday, May 11, 2023) GLAAD, the world's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, is responding to news that the FDA will allow more gay and bisexual men ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT The Panama Papers: Rogue capitalism robs your wallet 2023-04-30
- On April 03, 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists [ICIJ] started publishing almost 12 million files of leaked documents revealing the details of tax havens sheltering more than a ...


Gay News

NLGJA, Curve Foundation announce recipients of inaugural Curve Award for Excellence in Lesbian Coverage 2023-04-27
- WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 27, 2023) — Today, NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists and The Curve Foundation announced the recipients of the inaugural Curve Award for Excellence in Lesbian Coverage. ...


Gay News

GLAAD, LGBTQ+ Victory Institute respond to censure threat to Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr 2023-04-27
--From a press release - Washington, DC — GLAAD, the world's leading LGBTQ media advocacy organization, and LGBTQ+ Victory Institute, the only national organization dedicated to elevating openly LGBTQ+ leaders who further equality at all ...


Gay News

Uganda president refuses to sign current anti-LGBTQ+ bill 2023-04-22
- Uganda President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has refused to sign into law a controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill that prescribes the death penalty in some cases, media reports indicated. Museveni's decision was announced late on April 20 after a ...


Gay News

Supreme Court, Biden, Navratilova enter battle over anti-trans laws 2023-04-10
- Transgender athletes saw two significant victories last week: one from the conservative U.S. Supreme Court and the other from the LGBTQ-friendly White House of President Joe Biden. The events triggered a flood of national media attention, ...


Gay News

GLAAD Media Awards held; Christina Aguilera, Bad Bunny, 'Bros' among honorees 2023-04-01
- On March 30 at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, GLAAD announced recipients for 15 of this year's 33 categories for the 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, per a press release. Christina Aguilera ...


Gay News

Kentucky legislators override governor's veto to push anti-trans youth bill 2023-03-30
- On March 29, Republican lawmakers in Kentucky overturned Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's veto of a bill to ban transgender youths from gender-affirming healthcare and restrict which toilets they use in public schools, media outlets reported. Both ...


Gay News

Chicago Blackhawks mark Pride Night, with one change 2023-03-29
- The Chicago Blackhawks organization again hosted its annual Pride Night celebration, in partnership with BMO, on March 26, as the team took on the Vancouver Canucks. (The Canucks prevailed 4-2.) As media outlets previously reported, the ...


Gay News

TransLash Media CEO Imara Jones reflects on JK Rowling and 'Hogwarts Legacy' 2023-03-11
- The action role-playing game Hogwarts Legacy has been making big news lately—and it's not just because so many people are playing it. Hogwarts Legacy, inspired by writer J.K. Rowling's wizarding ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Little Richard, Indigo Girls, Rodriguez's honor, dance film, Pedro Pascal 2023-03-10
Video below - Produced by Bungalow Media + Entertainment for CNN Films and HBO Max, in association with Rolling Stone Films, director Lisa Cortes' Sundance opening-night documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything will debut in theaters and on VOD ...


Gay News

WORLD Japanese poll, Sydney Mardi Gras, mpox, rugby study, soccer player 2023-02-19
- Sixty-four percent of respondents to a Kyodo News poll believe same-sex marriage should be recognized in Japan, the media outlet noted. In the telephone survey, 88.4% also said recent remarks hostile to LGBTQ+ people by a ...


Gay News

New York Times publishes transphobic column one day after an open letter condemning anti-trans coverage, HRC responds 2023-02-16
--From a press release - WASHINGTON— This morning, the New York Times published yet another opinion piece attacking the transgender and non-binary community. The piece, "In Defense of J.K. Rowling" was written by Pamela Paul and was published merely one day ...


 


Copyright © 2023 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives. Single copies of back issues in print form are
available for $4 per issue, older than one month for $6 if available,
by check to the mailing address listed below.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.
All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transegender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.