Just the Facts: How Objectivity Came to Define American Journalism

Draws a history of journalism's most respected tenet--objectivity

If American journalism were a religion, as it has been called, then its supreme deity would be objectivity. The high priests of the profession worship the concept, while the iconoclasts of advocacy journalism, new journalism, and cyberjournalism consider objectivity a golden calf. Meanwhile, a groundswell of tabloids and talk shows and the increasing infringement of market concerns make a renewed discussion of the validity, possibility, and aim of objectivity a crucial pursuit.

Despite its position as the orbital sun of journalistic ethics, objectivity--until now--has had no historian. David T. Z. Mindich reaches back to the nineteenth century to recover the lost history and meaning of this central tenet of American journalism. His book draws on high profile cases, showing the degree to which journalism and its evolving commitment to objectivity altered-and in some cases limited--the public's understanding of events and issues. Mindich devotes each chapter to a particular component of this ethic-detachment, nonpartisanship, the inverted pyramid style, facticity, and balance. Through this combination of history and cultural criticism, Mindich provides a profound meditation on the structure, promise, and limits of objectivity in the age of cybermedia.

Author: David T. Z. Mindich
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 07/01/2000
Pages: 200
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.76h x 5.85w x 0.62d
ISBN: 9780814756140

About the Author
Mindich, David T. Z.: - A former assignment editor for CNN, DAVID MINDICH has also written for the Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, and New York Newsday.