![]() Neutrality suggests that stories be reported in an unbiased, even-handed, and impartial manner. Truthfulness is a commitment to reporting only accurate and truthful information, without skewing any facts or details to improve the story or better align an issue with any certain agenda. While objectivity is a complex and dynamic notion that may refer to a multitude of techniques and practices, it generally refers to the idea of "three distinct, yet interrelated, concepts": truthfulness, neutrality, and detachment. The journalist must report only the facts and not a personal attitude toward the facts. Journalistic objectivity requires that a journalist not be on either side of an argument. ![]() Objectivity also outlines an institutional role for journalists as a fourth estate, a body that exists apart from government and large interest groups. Sociologist Michael Schudson suggests that "the belief in objectivity is a faith in 'facts,' a distrust in 'values,' and a commitment to their segregation". Objective reporting is meant to portray issues and events in a neutral and unbiased manner, regardless of the writer's opinion or personal beliefs. To maintain objectivity in journalism, journalists should present the facts whether or not they like or agree with those facts. Objectivity in journalism aims to help the audience make up their own mind about a story, providing the facts alone and then letting audiences interpret those on their own. Though their founders did not use the word, objectivity is the philosophical basis for their enterprises – or failing that, widely acceptable neutrality. They avoid making judgments and steer clear of doubt and ambiguity. Traditionally, they report at a reduced level of responsibility, attributing their information to a spokesman, the press, or other sources. The demonstrably correct information is their stock-in-trade. ![]() To achieve such wide acceptability, the agencies avoid overt partiality. Journalist Jonathan Fenby has explained the notion: That is, they do not provide separate feeds for conservative or liberal newspapers. Most newspapers and TV stations depend upon news agencies for their material, and each of the four major global agencies ( Agence France-Presse (formerly the Havas agency), Associated Press, Reuters, and Agencia EFE) began with and continue to operate on a basic philosophy of providing a single objective news feed to all subscribers. First evolving as a practice in the 18th century, a number of critiques and alternatives to the notion have emerged since, fuelling ongoing and dynamic discourse surrounding the ideal of objectivity in journalism. Journalistic objectivity may refer to fairness, disinterestedness, factuality, and nonpartisanship, but most often encompasses all of these qualities. Journalistic objectivity is a considerable notion within the discussion of journalistic professionalism.
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