Teaching Fairness in Journalism: A Challenging Task

Objectivity has long been contentious in American journalism. Many practitioners call it essential to a news organization’s credibility. Critics, however, hold objectivity is impossible and urge reporters simply to reveal their biases. For educators, teaching objectivity is challenging. Some, seeking a middle ground, instead urge fairness and balance, or counsel “impartiality.” Even such approaches are challenging. This article explores the difficulties, based on a study where students were lectured on fairness, balance, objectivity, and bias. They wrote news stories before and after the lessons. Evaluators found no substantial improvement in fairness and increased bias, however, pointing up the difficulties involved