{"id":258943,"date":"2013-10-26T16:44:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-26T21:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/?p=258943"},"modified":"2024-01-28T16:45:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T21:45:05","slug":"glenn-greenwald-vs-the-nyts-bill-keller-on-objectivity-and-the-future-of-journalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2013\/10\/26\/glenn-greenwald-vs-the-nyts-bill-keller-on-objectivity-and-the-future-of-journalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Glenn Greenwald vs. the NYT\u2019s Bill Keller on objectivity and the future of journalism"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Is objectivity in journalism a false idol, one that leads media outlets like the New York Times<\/em> into error rather than truth? Or is it the only protection against a future of partisan media yelling at each other and preaching to the converted? Those were the stakes that emerged in a conversation on Saturday<\/a> between Guardian<\/em> writer Glenn Greenwald and New York Times<\/em> columnist and former executive editor Bill Keller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The debate took place in the pages of the Times<\/em>, in the spot normally occupied by Keller\u2019s column, under the heading \u201cIs Glenn Greenwald the Future of News?\u201d (a headline that sparked a critical response<\/a> from journalism professor Jay Rosen, who called it clickbait). As Keller noted in his preamble, one of the most compelling questions about the future of journalism \u2014 apart from how it will pay for itself \u2014 is whether \u201cobjective\u201d journalism is an outdated concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many new-media theorists and observers (including me<\/a>) argue that transparency is the new objectivity, as David Weinberger of Harvard\u2019s Berkman Center put it in an excellent essay some time ago<\/a> \u2014 in other words, that disclosure about one\u2019s viewpoint trumps the traditional attempt to pretend that a journalist or media outlet has no viewpoint. As Weinberger noted, objectivity is a trust mechanism that you focus on when your media platform doesn\u2019t support hyperlinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keller: Objective journalism is more credible<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Bill<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Keller opened the debate by saying<\/a> that the new form of journalism Greenwald represents is opinionated and activist-oriented, but that this is not always the best way to produce good journalism \u2014 and compared objectivity to the impartiality that is demanded of judges:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keller<\/strong>: \u201cJournalists in this tradition have plenty of opinions, but by setting them aside to follow the facts \u2014 as a judge in court is supposed to set aside prejudices to follow the law and the evidence \u2014 they can often produce results that are more substantial and more credible.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The obvious implication was that Greenwald\u2019s style of advocacy journalism is less substantial and less credible. But the Guardian<\/em> writer \u2014 who is leaving to join a new venture funded by billionaire Pierre Omidyar<\/a> \u2014 wasn\u2019t about to let that accusation go, saying the objectivity model \u201chas also produced lots of atrocious journalism and some toxic habits that are weakening the profession,\u201d such as accepting what official sources say without challenging it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greenwald also said that a rigid devotion to the principle of objectivity produces a \u201chere\u2019s what both sides say\u201d formula \u2014 something Jay Rosen has called<\/a> \u201cthe view from nowhere,\u201d which arguably fails to give readers a meaningful understanding of what is happening with issues like torture. Greenwald argued that disclosure of one\u2019s viewpoint is a far better approach:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Greenwald<\/strong>: \u201cThe relevant distinction is not between journalists who have opinions and those who do not, because the latter category is mythical. The relevant distinction is between journalists who honestly disclose their subjective assumptions and political values and those who dishonestly pretend they have none or conceal them from their readers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Greenwald: Disclosures provide transparency<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"glenn<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As an example, the Guardian<\/em> writer said he only found out after the Gulf War that New York Times<\/em> foreign correspondent John Burns was favorably disposed towards the U.S. invasion, and would have liked to have known about his position when he was reading Burns\u2019 coverage of it, instead of finding out after the fact. Keller, however, argued that the discipline of impartiality was important in order to prevent distortion of the news:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keller<\/strong>: \u201cOnce you have publicly declared your \u2018subjective assumptions and political values,\u2019 it\u2019s human nature to want to defend them, and it becomes tempting to omit or minimize facts, or frame the argument, in ways that support your declared viewpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Greenwald countered that reporters who<\/a> \u201chide their opinions\u201d would be far more likely to manipulate their reporting and not be discovered by readers. And he noted that \u2014 despite Keller\u2019s criticism of entities like WikiLeaks<\/a> and their agenda-driven activity \u2014 the New York Times<\/em> has been guilty of far worse behavior:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Greenwald<\/strong>: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t WikiLeaks that laundered false official claims about Saddam\u2019s WMD\u2019s and alliance with Al Qaeda on its front page under the guise of \u2018news\u2019 to help start a heinous war. It isn\u2019t WikiLeaks that routinely gives anonymity to U.S. officials to allow them to spread leader-glorifying mythologies or quite toxic smears of government critics without any accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Are advocacy and fairness mutually exclusive?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"legal-justice-code-10\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Keller stuck to his defense of impartiality, which he said was a \u201cworthwhile aspiration, even if it is not perfectly achieved.\u201d And in what appeared to be the core of his argument<\/a> against Greenwald-style journalism, the former NYT executive editor argued that journalism which comes from a position of advocacy is inherently less useful:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keller<\/strong>: \u2018I believe that in most cases [impartiality] gets you closer to the truth, because it imposes a discipline of testing all assumptions, very much including your own. That discipline does not come naturally. I believe journalism that starts from a publicly declared predisposition is less likely to get to the truth, and less likely to be convincing to those who are not already convinced.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In a nutshell, Keller seemed to be arguing that<\/a> activist or agenda-driven journalism is by definition lopsided and unfair, and results in a future where partisan platforms like Fox News are talking in \u201cecho chambers\u201d to those who already agree with their beliefs. Greenwald, however, said that journalism from a specific perspective and fairness or accuracy are not mutually exclusive:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Greenwald<\/strong>: \u201cMy view of journalism absolutely requires both fairness and rigorous adherence to facts. But I think those values are promoted by being honest about one\u2019s perspectives and subjective assumptions rather than donning a voice-of-god, view-from-nowhere tone that falsely implies that journalists reside above the normal viewpoints and faction-loyalties that plague the non-journalist and the dreaded \u2018activist.’\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Shutterstock \/ Xavier Gallego Morell<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is objectivity in journalism a false idol, one that leads media outlets like the New York Times into error rather than truth? Or is it the only protection against a future of partisan media yelling at each other and preaching to the converted? Those were the stakes that emerged in a conversation on Saturday between Guardian writer Glenn Greenwald and New York … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Glenn Greenwald vs. the NYT\u2019s Bill Keller on objectivity and the future of journalism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crsspst_to_mathewingramblogwordpresscom":true,"mf2_syndication":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gigaom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258945,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258943\/revisions\/258945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}