Editing Journalistic objectivity (section)

== History ==
The modern notion of objectivity in journalism is largely due to the work of [[Walter Lippmann]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The lost meaning of 'objectivity' |url=https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/journalism-essentials/bias-objectivity/lost-meaning-objectivity/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110145213/https://americanpressinstitute.org/journalism-essentials/bias-objectivity/lost-meaning-objectivity/ |archive-date=Nov 10, 2023 |website=American Press Institute}}</ref>  Lippmann was the first to widely call for journalists to use the scientific method for gathering information.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wien |first1=Charlotte |title=Defining Objectivity within Journalism: An Overview |s2cid-access=free |journal=Nordicom Review |date=1 November 2005 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=3–15 |doi=10.1515/nor-2017-0255 |s2cid=43613450 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Lippmann called for journalistic objectivity after the excesses of [[yellow journalism]].  He noted that the yellows at the time had served their purpose, but that the people needed to receive the actual news, and not a "romanticized version of it".<ref>[https://archive.org/details/KSULKSInd193031V57N1733 Kansas industrialist]. p. 6</ref>

The term ''objectivity'' was not applied to journalistic work until the 20th century, but it had fully emerged as a guiding principle by the 1890s. Michael Schudson,<ref>[http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/profile/62-michael-schudson/10 Michael Schudson's faculty page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405061527/http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/profile/62-michael-schudson/10 |date=2016-04-05 }}; Columbia Journalism School, accessed 20 December 2012</ref> among a number of other communication scholars and historians, agree that the idea of objectivity has prevailed in dominant discourse among journalists in the United States since the appearance of modern newspapers in the [[Jacksonian democracy|Jacksonian Era]] of the 1830s. These papers transformed the press amidst the democratization of politics, the expansion of a market economy, and the growing authority of an entrepreneurial, urban middle class. Before then, American newspapers were expected to present a partisan viewpoint, not a neutral one.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uLois7_nNMgC&q=inauthor%3A%22Michael+Schudson%22|title=Discovering the News|last=Schudson|first=Michael|year=1978|pages=4|publisher=Basic Books |isbn=9780786723089}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mediaethicsmagazine.com/index.php/browse-back-issues/179-fall-2013-vol-25-no-1/3999003-objectivity-and-advocacy-in-journalism|title=Objectivity and Advocacy in Journalism – mediaethicsmagazine.com|website=www.mediaethicsmagazine.com|language=en-gb|access-date=2017-04-19}}</ref>

The need for objectivity first occurred to Associated Press editors who realized that partisanship would narrow their potential market. Their goal was to reach all newspapers and leave it to the individual papers to decide on what slanting and commentary were needed.  [[Lawrence Gobright]], the AP chief in Washington, explained the philosophy of objectivity to Congress in 1856:

<blockquote>My business is to communicate facts.  My instructions do not allow me to make any comments upon the facts which I communicate.  My dispatches are sent to papers of all manner of politics, and the editors say they are able to make their own comments upon the facts which are sent to them.  I, therefore confine myself to what I consider legitimate news.  I do not act as a politician belonging to any school, but try to be truthful and impartial.  My dispatches are a merely dry matter of fact and detail.<ref>Richard Schwarzlose (1989). ''Nation's Newsbrokers Volume 1: The Formative Years: From Pretelegraph to 1865''. p. 179.</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8_Q283mkIIkC&pg=PA81|title=Covering America: A Narrative History of a Nation's Journalism|publisher=Univ of Massachusetts Press|year=2012|page=81|author=Christopher B. Daly|isbn=9781558499119}}</ref></blockquote>

In the first decade of the twentieth century, it was uncommon to see a sharp divide between facts and values. However, Stuart Allan (1997) suggests that, during [[World War I]], scholar propaganda campaigns, as well as the rise of "press agents and publicity experts", fostered the growing cynicism among the public towards state institutions and "official channels of information".<ref name=":1" /> The elevation of objectivity thus constituted an effort to re-legitimatize the news-press, as well as the state in general.<ref name=":1" />

Some historians, like Gerald Baldasty, have observed that objectivity went hand in hand with the need to make profits in the newspaper business by attracting advertisers. In this economic analysis, publishers did not want to offend any potential advertising clients and therefore encouraged news editors and reporters to strive to present all sides of an issue. Advertisers would remind the press that partisanship hurts circulation, and, consequently, advertising revenues—thus, objectivity was sought.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sKExQuza2EUC&q=Gerald+Baldasty+the+rise+of+objectivity&pg=PA29|title=Advertising and a Democratic Press|last=Baker|first=Edwin C.|year=1994|pages=29|publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0691021163}}</ref>

Others have proposed a political explanation for the rise of objectivity; scholars like Richard Kaplan have argued that political parties needed to lose their hold over the loyalties of voters and the institutions of government before the press could feel free to offer a nonpartisan, "impartial" account of news events.<ref name=":2" /> This change occurred following the critical [[1896 United States presidential election|1896 election]] and the subsequent reform of the [[Progressive Era]].<ref name=":2">{{cite book|title=Politics and the American Press: The Rise of Objectivity, 1865–1920|last=Kaplan|first=Richard L.|year=2002}}</ref>

Later, during the period following [[World War II]], the newly formalized rules and practices of objectivity led to a brief national consensus and temporary suspension of negative public opinion;<ref name=":1" /> however, doubts and uncertainties in "the institutions of [[democracy]] and [[capitalism]]" resurfaced in the period of civil unrest during the 1960s and 1970s, ultimately leading to the emergence of the ''critique'' of objectivity.<ref name=":1" />

In conclusion, there are three key factors in the origin of objectivity. The transition from a political model of journalism to a commercial model requires the production of content that can be marketed across the political and ideological spectrum. The telegraph imposes pressures on journalists to prioritize the most important facts at the beginning of the story and adopt a simplified, homogenized and generic style that could appeal to geographically diverse audiences. In the early 20th century, journalism started to define itself as a professional occupation that required special training, unique skills and self-regulation according to ethical principles. Professionalization normalized the regime of objectivity as the foundation of good journalism, providing benefits to journalists and editors/publishers.

For most of the 19th century, most of the publications and news were written by one person. Writers could express their own perspectives and opinions. However, since the 1880s, Americans started to become interested in some scientific theories and facts which narrowed the ways that writers could express their feelings. The use of technology led to more productivity and control. New tech in the news process has worked to establish a discourse of speed. The discourse of speed has also become stronger and more encompassing over time. The transformation of the newspaper produced a medium requiring a fairly sophisticated team of many different kinds of laborers. Journalists are expected to possess technical skills in computer-based and new media technologies to some extent, placing new demands on journalists now.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Forde |first1=Kathy Roberts |last2=Foss |first2=Katherine A. |title='The Facts—the Color!—the Facts': The Idea of a Report in American Print Culture, 1885–1910 |journal=Book History |date=2012 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=123–151 |id={{Project MUSE|488255}} |doi=10.1353/bh.2012.0003 |s2cid=144098942 }}</ref>