1. News: objectivity, impartiality
& balance
1
#MAC201
Robert Jewitt
robert.jewitt@sunderland.ac.uk

2. Session Outline
Introduction
Fourth Estate
What is objectivity?
2
 Origins of objectivity
 Objectivity in practice – Examples...
What is impartiality?
What do we mean by balance?
Conclusion

3. Handy background reading
3

4. Which? Report (2012)
4
Professions by percentage of
people who said they are
trustworthy:

5. Which? Report (2012)
5
Professions by percentage of
people who said they are
trustworthy:
1. Politicians 7%
2. Journalists 7%
3. Bankers 11%
4. Estate agents 11%
5. Builders 19%
6. Civil servants 25%
7. Accountants 29%
8. Lawyers 35%
9. Engineers 56%
10. Teachers 69%

6. 6

7. “This goes to the heart of science
reporting – you wouldn't have a
homeopath speaking alongside a
brain surgeon for balance, as that
would be absurd.
It's just as absurd to have a climate
sceptic for balance against the work of
the overwhelming majority of climate
scientists.”
- Steve Jones, biologist
7

8. 8

9. Power of the media: Fourth Estate
9
The “forth estate” - separate from:
 the church
 the judiciary
 the commons (see Allan, 2004: 47)
“The public trust most of the things they read in
newspapers so journalists must be responsible in the way
they present issues that directly affect the lives of others”
 (Nyaira, 2004: 34 cited in Harcup, 2007: 3).

10. Power of the media: Fourth Estate
1. “Democratic” role:
 help the public understand the world around them
1. “Watchdog” role:
 “bring misdemeanours to the attention of the
public”
 See Conboy, 2004: 110
10

11. Criticisms...
“The ideas of the ruling class are in
every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the
class which is the ruling material force
of society, is at the same time its
ruling intellectual force.”
 (Karl Marx, 1845)
11

12. Criticisms...
12
Ethnic minorities “opinions are less asked or found
less credible or newsworthy, also because most
journalists (and virtually all editors) are white” (Cottle,
2000: 36)

13. A fair say?
13
Allan (2004: 52) points to the increasing
marginalisation of voices in:
◦ The labour movement
◦ Trade unions
◦ Feminists
◦ Anti-racists
◦ Environmentalists
◦ Anti-poverty activists
◦ Groups committed to progressive social change

14. Objectivity:
Simply: Trust & Reliability
Factors include: Factual accuracy; unbiased,
separation of fact from comment, not taking sides
“Controversy about the term stem mainly from the
view that true objectivity is unattainable and it is
misleading to pretend otherwise” (McQuail, 2000:
500).
Ideological...
14

15. Truth?
Whose ‘truth’?
Truths based on facts?
Facts require full contexts
Facts must be accurate
Does the news have
time and space to
explore all issues
‘truthfully’?
15

16. Objective reporting
1. What?
2. Who?
3. When?
4. Where?
5. How?
And if possible….
6. Why?
16
For more see:
 Manoff and Shudson,
1986: 2-10;
 Sigal, 1973: 66-9.
Objectivity = verifiable
facts (not interpretation)
Extra's: incident, interview,

17. Verification
17

18. Routinising tthhee uunneexxppeecctteedd
((sseeee AAllllaann,, 22000044:: pp6644))
18
Pressure to remain profitable & cost-effective
hinders lengthy investigative journalism
24 hour production cycle forces tight
deadlines upon journalists - New
technologies enhance the speed of
reporting
Work to set rules of practice, proven to get
results in an attempt to explain the unpredictable

19. Story quotas uncovered…
Typical scaremongering story in
Metro News
 ‘Game Transfer Phenomena’
19

20. Story quotas uncovered…
20
“The Metro, they obviously had an agenda -
because all [the reporter] said was that he
just wanted to know about the negative
stuff. I told him that the paper was
primarily positive, or at least neutral. He
said 'I don't want to know about that, I
want to know the negative stuff.' So I just
went through what we did, what we found
and what we are doing next.”
Prof Griffiths, author of the study!!!

21. Hierarchies
21
Journalists rely on a commonsensical
understanding that society is bureaucratically
structured (Fishman, 1980: 51)
For example: Dale Farm eviction (October 2011)
The farm owners or residents
Local politicians (Councillor Tony Ball)
Bailiffs
Environmental health officials
Campaigners

22. BBC1 coverage ITV1 coverage
Images of protester in
concrete
3 second soundbite of
angry resident
5 second soundbite of
campaigner
5 second soundbite of
resident
20 second piece by
Councillor
Audio of aggressive
residents
18 second appeal by
bailiffs
2 second soundbite of
angry resident
Images of celebrations
10 second piece by
Councillor
22

23. ‘‘PPrriimmaarryy ddeeffiinneerrss’’
‘This means constantly turning to accredited
representatives of major social institutions – M.P.s
for political topics, employers and trade union
leaders for industrial matters, and so on…’
 (Hall et al, 1978: 58)
23

24. ‘‘PPrriimmaarryy ddeeffiinneerrss’’
‘Such institutional representatives are “accredited”
because of their institutional power and
position, but also because of their
“representative” status: either they represent
“the people” (M.P.s, Ministers, etc.) or organised
interest groups’
 (Hall et al, 1978: 58)
24

25. Reporting of Islam
25
“The attack is not against Islam as a faith but
Muslims as people” (Halliday, 1999: 898).
 Different forms of Islamic belief?
 1960s – immigration (problem of numbers)
 1970s & 80s – Black community (criminals) & Irish (IRA/
terrorism)
 1990s to present – Muslims (Un-British/ terrorists) & Asylum
(damaging to Britain)

26. Is Islam reported objectively?
26
Empirical work – “72% of articles over a six month
period in The Sun contained the words terrorism
and Islam together” (April – September 2008).
“The public trust most of the things they read”
Any event concerning Islam, who do the media
turn to as a source???
Abu Hamza Omar Bakri

27. Contemporary media: Quick & Easy
27
Bell’s study (1991) – pre-packaged news
Newsmakers rely on:
Interviews (face to face, phone, email, etc)
Public addresses
Press conferences
Reports, letters, minutes, surveys, etc
Press releases
News agency copy

28. The influence of news agencies and PR
28
From Flat Earth News:
 Direct rewrites of PA article: 30%
 Largely reproduced from agencies: 19%
 Contained elements: 21%
News sourced from press agencies: 70%
 (this excludes PR material which would push figure even
higher)
In SunSpace:
Justin Lewis, Andrew Williams and Bob Franklin, 2008, ‘Four Rumours and
an Explanation: A political economic account of journalists’ changing
newsgathering and reporting practices’ in Journalism Practice, Vol 2, No 1,
pp 25-45.

29. The influence of news agencies and PR
29
From Flat Earth News:
 “PA has such credibility that media outlets treat it
as a reliable source which does not need to be
checked. The BBC’s internal guidelines …
specifically instruct their journalists that they
must have at least two sources for every story –
unless it is running on PA … A special notice
issued by the BBC journalism board on 1
December 2004 told the staff: ‘The Press
Association can be treated as a confirmed,
single source’”
 Davies, 2008: p74-5

30. TThhee rriissee ooff ““iimmppaarrttiiaalliittyy””??
Defined as:
A “sound practice [that] makes clear
distinction between news reports and
expressions of opinion. News reports
should be free of opinion or bias of
any kind”
(American Society of Newspaper Editors, 1923 in
Allan, 2004: 22)
30

31. ““IImmppaarrttiiaalliittyy”” hhaass bbeeccoommee……
31
The doctrine of “not taking sides” in the reporting
of public affairs
Realisation of the impossibility of absolute
“objectivity”, seeking “balance” instead

32. BUT…
32
In the context of unexpected breaking
news, how do you achieve balance?
Developments are unknowable?
????? ?????

33. ““DDuuee iimmppaarrttiiaalliittyy””
33
“To ensure that news, in whatever form, is reported
with due accuracy and presented with due
impartiality ”
 http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-BBC have extra guidelines
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/our_work/other/century21.shtml

34. 34

35. Accusations of bias
BBC Trust
5 impartiality reviews
since 2007:
 2013: religion and ethics,
UK/EU relationship,
immigration
 2012: “Arab spring”
 2012: science coverage
 2008: 4 nations
 2007: business coverage
35

36. Beneficial bias?
36

37. Conclusion
37
Objectivity can never be satisfied due to the
structural limitations of strict deadlines for news and
the consequences of routinising the unexpected.
News aims for impartiality which is
problematic given that news selection and
positioning means subjective value
decisions still have to be made
The ‘truth’ of news is that it is ideological

38. Points to consider:
38
Objectivity? (is it possible?)
Impartiality (Is it necessary?)
What are the techniques by which the
news makes itself credible?

39. Sources
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 S. Allan, 2004, News Culture 2nd Edition, Berkshire: Open University Press
 A. Bell, 1991, The Language of the New Media, Oxford: Blackwell.
 N. Davies, 2008, Flat Earth News, London: Chatto & Windus
 Stuart Hall, ‘The Whites of Their Eyes: Racist Ideologies and the Media’ in Paul Marris and Sue Thornham (eds.) 1997,
Media Studies: A Reader, Dundee: Edinburgh University Press
 S. Hall, C. Critcher, Jefferson, Clarke, Roberts, 1978, Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, Law and Order ,
 D. Hallin, 1986, The Uncensored War: The Media and Vietnam, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Justin Lewis, Andrew Williams and Bob Franklin, 2008, ‘Four Rumours and an Explanation: A political economic
account of journalists’ changing newsgathering and reporting practices’ in Journalism Practice, Vol 2, No 1, pp 25-45.
 M. Leapman, 1992, Treacherous Estate, London: Hodder & Stoughton.
 R. K. Manoff and M. Shudson (eds.), 1986, Reading the News, New York: Pantheon.
 J. Palmer, 1998, ‘News production: news values’ in A. Briggs and P. Cobley, The Media: An Introduction, Harlow:
Longman.
 R. McChesney, 2001, ‘Global Media, Neoliberalism, and Imperialism’ at http://www.monthlyreview.org/301rwm.htm
 P. Schlesinger, 1987, Putting Reality Together 2nd edition, London: Methuen.
 L. V. Sigal, 1973, Reporters and Officials, Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath.
 M. Shudson, 1991, ‘The sociology of news production revisited’ in J. Curran and M. Gurevitch (eds.), Mass Media and
Society, Arnold: London.
 G. Tuchman, 1978, Making News, New York: Free Press.

40. See also:
40
Race and ideology in news
Stuart Hall, ‘The Whites of Their Eyes: Racist
Ideologies and the Media’ in Paul Marris and Sue
Thornham (eds.) 1997, Media Studies: A Reader,
Dundee: Edinburgh University Press
Corporate media ownership
Robert McChesney, 2001, ‘Global Media,
Neoliberalism, and Imperialism’ at
http://www.monthlyreview.org/301rwm.htm