Selective Objectivity

Objective journalism--the bane of journalists everywhere. It is a goal to which all true journalists aspire but, human nature being what it is, it's a difficult goal to attain indeed.

The facts of a news story can be very confusing when placed side by side before the actual story is written or aired. Take, for example, a theft. The facts of the story are as follows: a sixteen-year-old youth is arrested for stealing an elderly woman's Buick. The story seems fairly cut and dry. However, throw in the fact that the elderly woman is suffering financially because just last week she was scammed in one of those "boiler room" phone operations. Then throw in the fact that that morning the youth had been kicked out of his home by his drug-addicted mother and was desperately trying to get to another city to be with his brother.

Now, the journalist must make a choice. In order to have the best story possible the journalist must choose which angle to take. If the journalist's bias is against elderly people, inherent burdens on society, then the journalist may choose to play up the youth-in-strife angle. On the other hand, if the journalist's bias is against the youth, inherent destroyers of society, the journalist may choose to play up the elderly-getting-the-shaft angle.

Though it is difficult to honestly present stories in an objective and unbiased light it should be the first thing the reporter tries to do with a story. So where are journalists learning this trade? I contend that it is a very difficult thing to do thus it must be a very difficult thing to teach. Objective reporting is so ingrained in the essence of news journalism that it is almost understood. It must be one of those things which needs no open discussion, like periods at the ends of sentences. But, if objectivity is not naturally a part of any human psyche, then the journalist must learn it from mentors, teachers, other writers and finally, from professors.

Wrong.

The School of Journalism and Communication at our esteemed university does not teach objectivity. That is what I gather from the output of that school. The Communication Broadcast class taught by Jim Upshaw is a classic example of biased journalism. Each Friday, as part of the class, an hour long news segment airs from the top of Villard Hall. I had only seen this broadcast once before and I remember distinctly not knowing what was happening in my television.

This is not to say that I donšt think what they are doing is a valid and important part of education. I do. However, it is disappointing to see such flagrant disregard for journalistic ethics.

On February 20, some individuals from the class came to the Commentator office to interview Jessica Shebley, enslaver of all women and raper of intellectualism, on the infamous story which she wrote on four pigs from Cornell University. I tagged along just for the hell of it.

They asked Jessica several questions about the story and then asked about our budget. I gave my opinion on the increase we received and then the camera stopped rolling. We talked with the interviewer for almost thirty minutes after they turned off the camera, just chatting casually about our take on the issues at hand.

It turns out that our interview wasn't about the Cornell story at all, it was about our budget. The only part of our "interview" which appeared in the segment was my opinion on our budget. Forget the fact that they told us they were interested in Ms. Shebley's comments concerning her article. Ms. Shebley did not come prepared to discuss the budget.

Then the story turns to Joey Lyons, the director of the Multicultural Center. Joey was lauded as the only brave soul to dare, in the face of the evil, raping and pillaging Commentator staff, to speak against us at the budget hearing.

Let's forget for a moment that Joey's opinion is not a credible source for the nature of the segment. Just because he is the director of shmutz does not mean he is an authority on the Commentator or issues of the first amendment.

An objective journalist would have interviewed someone from the current PFC and Jen Williamson, ASUO President. Then, for the militant, lesbian feminist viewpoint, talked to Keith Cunningham and approached us to get our opinion on the issue at hand.

Why aren't the journalism students being taught these base journalistic guidelines? Out in the "real world" of the media , journalists often face questions more challenging than whether or not they are being objective. Without an understanding of objective reporting a journalist will not have the fundamental tools to work within the parameters of any newspaper or broadcast news.

I find it extremely disheartening that the University of Oregon Journalism Department is not more concerned with this fundamental issue. This is not the first time I've been disappointed with the department nor, I'm sure, my last.

This story had so much potential. The campus media took an opportunity to do some quality investigative journalism and threw it out the window.

There were so many different issues here: the issue of the First Amendment and the Commentator's role on campus. Just asking the simple question: What is all the controversy about? It could have turned a taudry witchhunt into a challenging and intellectual commentary on campus politics.

Too bad. I guess the Commentator will just have to hang around for a few more years to show the rest of the kids just how it's done.

Amanda K. Erickson, who is married to Thom Schoenborn, wrote this for the Oregon Commentator