Objective vs Real: Critical Remarks on the Concept of Objective Journalism

For citation: Yakovleva M.G. (2016) Ob"ektivnoe vs real'noe: kriticheskie zamechaniya k kontseptsii ob"ekstivnoy zhurnalistiki [Objective vs Real: Critical Remarks on the Concept of Objective Journalism]. Mediaskop 4. Available at: http://www.mediascope.ru/2208

© Marina G. Yakovleva

PhD, Associate Professor at the Chair of Mass Communications, Naberezhnye Chelny Institute (Kazan Federal University) (Naberezhnye Chelny, Russia), marrayk@yandex.ru

Abstract

The principle of objective media coverage raises a number of contradictions in journalism. Those contradictions are between expectations of the audience and the resulting information product, between socially declared goals and the commercial orientation of media activity, postulated professional standards and the real work of journalists. The aim of this article is to revise the notion of objectivity as a criterion for journalistic activity.

The idea of ​​objectivity journalism borrows from science, which, using the example of quantum physics, has shown that objectivity, as a characteristic of scientific knowledge is problematic even in regard to physical systems, not to mention the more complex social systems dealt with by journalism. If science is concerned with the truth in the form of objective laws of reality, journalism is business, professional practice with its own standards and norms, an instrument for influencing the audience, therefore objectivity in journalism is even less possible than in science. Today, with the wide spread of constructionism − marketing, advertising and public relations technologies, information wars − the notion of objectivity is used for manipulative purposes, in order to achieve a more effective influence on the audience. We propose to revise the concept of objective journalism on the basis of developments in social and humanitarian knowledge with a shift from the concept of the object to the concept of reality. The concept of reality allows us to move from a semiotic interpretation of the journalistic text to an ontological one; from a journalist (audience) as a rational subject of speculative understanding to a journalist (audience) as an ethical subject of practical reason; from the objectivity of control to the reality of the genuine. These differences outline the contours of a new concept - real journalism.

Keywords: objectivity, objective journalism, scientific rationality, real journalism.

Notes

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Interv'yu Amandy Kokoevoy telekanalu Fox News [Interview of Amanda Kokoeva to the Fox News Channel]. 2008. August. Available at: http://video.foxnews.com/v/3911776/just-so-scary/?#sp=show-clips

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Mezhdunarodnye printsipy professional'noy etiki v zhurnalistike (YuNESKO, 1983) [International Principles of Professional Ethics in Journalism (UNESCO, 1983]. Informatsionnyy portal dlya molodykh zhurnalistov YOJO.ru. [Information portal for young journalists YOJO.ru]. Available at: http://yojo.ru/wp/?page_id=82

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12 illyustratsiy o vremeni, kogda kazhdaya fotografiya byla tsennost'yu [12 Illustrations of the Time When Each Photo was a Value]. AdMe.ru, 2016, 25 July. Available at: https://www.adme.ru/zhizn-semya/12-illyustracij-o-vremeni-kogda-kazhdaya-fotografiya-imela-cennost-1322715/

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