Countering Subjectivity

Question:  What can subjective journalist do to counter subjectivity?

I think subjective journalists should use a disclaimer to warn their audience that their work may present information that is biased toward their beliefs.  This disclaimer can come in the form of them explaining their beliefs and why they have certain beliefs.  For example, in the TED Talk we watched in class, the photographer made is very clear in the beginning of this speech that he grew up in the 60’s during a very hostile time in the world.  It is because of his experiences growing up that he feels compelled to share stories of people around the world that are suffereing through his photographs, in order to bring light to situations that rarely are acknowledged.  By sharing this information with the audience, viewers of the TED Talk were able to take that information and either disregard it or view his photos from a different lens than we would if we didn’t know about his beliefs. 

            Another way journalists can counter subjectivity is by reporting both sides of a story.  By doing so a reporter could gather interviews and information from both parties that are involved in a news story.  However, this tactic would be much harder to follow because most journalists are reporting to make a living, which means their interest in the story is to please their audience.  For this reason, they would most likely only favor the side of the party that is most popular with their audience.  It appears that journalism will always have some form of bias and subjectivity that is inevitable.