Quote from “the campaign trail”
July 15, 2007 | Journalism
With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradition in terms.
— Hunter S. Thompson, Doctor of Journalism
Discuss.
Posted by Becky @ 7:48 am
July 15th, 2007 at 10:56 am
I’m so glad you decided to read this.
The Good Doctor has a point. Everybody has an opinion no matter how objective they are trying to be.
July 20th, 2007 at 10:11 am
The Good Doctor not only has a point, he is absolutely right. Unless you consider yourself to be the mighty and Omniscient God, Creator of All The Universe, you ain’t objective. But that’s okay, because the truth is not objective, either. (Example: global warming is a fact, even if my saying so does make Big Industry accuse me of not being “fair”.) “Fairness” and “objectivity” are not goals in themselves; they are means to an end, which (ideally) is the truth. Or, as we say in newspapers, As Much of the Truth As We Can Give You Today. Perfect “truth” is an unattainable ideal most of the time, but it is the prize we have to keep our eye on.