NEWSPAPER OBJECTIVITY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000100480005-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2004
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: June 29, 1970
• Content Type: NSPR

WABIiINGTON POST What editors and nnut..r-
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A recent issue of the magazine contained a story with
this headline: Readers Split Over Reporter's Beard.'
The,article that followed in E & P's notable prose said
that, "The public image of newspapermen got perhaps
its severest test when the Dayton Daily News invited;
readers' response to photos of a bearded reporter. Ap-
pearing on the front page was a picture combo showing'
the daily growth of Dale Iluffman's hirsute adornment;
'complete with a ballot for readers to indicate whether;
they wanted the beard shaved or saved. Readers turned.
'thumbs down on the reporter's beard.
At least it can't be said that newspaper editors 'are!
holding out the good stuff and privately circulating it;
among themselves. They treat themselves. as badly as;
they treat their readers. Another story in the same issue
describes a speech, given by the assistant managing
editor. of . the Santa Ana (California) Register to his'
.local Rotary, Club. If you want to know more, you'll.
find it on page 22 of the June 13 number.
Editor & Publisher isn't wholly given over to trivia::
It has articles. about important topics and they too tell,
here exists in the plethora of publications we're-
:lucky we don't have to read a magazine called Editor
& Publisher. It is read or at least subscribed to,by most:
executives in the newspaper business. This'makes It a'
faithful reflection of the mentality which guides most,,.
hut not all, our daily newspapers.
In makeup, story selection, editorial policy and use,
of language, Editor & Publisher consistently lives up';
,to the best in journalism as it was practiced circa 1035.,
Leafing through its pages will tell you why so many,
newspapers are dull, uninformative and reactionary.
O .us something about the minds that edit the American
daily press, as with the piece that was run with this
slightly paranoid headline: Attack on Objectivity In-,
The article quotes from a speech. given by an im-
portant Associated Press editor to a group of Penn-;
sylvania newspeople. What he says tells more about'
print journalism than the story about the 'reporter and!
-his beard:
"Those of you who read the various - professional..
Journals are aware that objective reporting is coming',
under 'increasing attack from within our own ranks.'
There is abroad in the profession a movement, un
organized but vocal, generally known as the Newt
.Journalists. Basically, their argument is that the re-.
'.porter has the right to draw conclusions from the facts
'lie gathers. Unless he is permitted to do so, they say,
it is impossible to put simple, unvarnished facts in per-;
,spective. To quote the New Journalists, the self-disci-I
plinc required to remain impartial reduces reporters to,
,the status of more eunuchs , . . the catch words and,
phrases of the New Journalists betray their real con
,cern. They are not content to he observers. They am 1
:determined to exert an influence, to be opinion makers.
They talk about the importance of what reporters think,
of the reporter's right to take a moral stance, to have
.firm convictions and to express them in print. Always,
beware of the man who talks in terms of 'moral corn=
mitm^.rts.'. Invariably he is a man who has totally
bou,;ht the line peddled by advocates of one cause or;
.another." ---
N1ost American, newspaper editors would agree with
our speaker, who's not named here because his words
.are so prototypic. Vice President A;*n,.," would agree;
so would wally other politicians and many newspaper
dreaders who believe the news is' slanted' and" wno.'til'te'
STAT
ground.
Presider
fuller a
iand ac
local nei
your din
'The ur uuctrme arrived at the reductio
ad absurdum with Agnew's attack on the media. 'News-
papers have dutifully reported the attack every time'.
he gives it, making themselves a conveyor belt for the
;impression that he and his buddies are being persecuted
by 'a hippie-controlled national press. Seldom do these
accounts include a paragraph saying that most Ameri-
can newspapers editorially support him and his boss.
By these standards objectivity consists of limiting
oneself to accurate quotation. Let the speaker be a liar,
an ignoramus, mistaken or a truth teller, this school
of thought holds that journalism has no responsibility,
to establish the facts independently. It's left to the read-
er to get the facts to judge our public controversialists,
an obvious impossibility in a society disputing over
topics that range from the storage of pathogens in bio-
logical warfare, to monetary liquidity, to the presence o> j
CIA agents in Laos, to the identity of major polluters
of Lake Erie.
Our current definition of views suggests a range of
motivation that runs from extreme A to extreme B:
patriotism, honor, votes; public service, self defense,
love of freedom and peace and a few others. In a-time
when more people grow up having absorbed the pre-
cepts of the social sciences,-such inferences as to why.
events take place are unbelievable. Only Marxists and:
Christians of the Billy Graham stamp, that is behavioral'
determinants, can read the accounts of the words and
`deeds of men on most of our front pages and take them
seriously.
1 Objective .. news 'is not only incredible to' 'people
,brought up in the 'contemporary mode, it's also biased.
,This kind of objectivity rejects information that tends
to throw doubt on ancient i titutions and established
practice by'. calling it partisan: Editors don't want to
print that.kind -of bad news.
They will print bad news that makes an evil appear
to be the work of bad men or criminals. They will print
bad news that is the work of God, like fires, earth-
quakes, and plane crashes. They will print bad news
that may lead readers to question other country's social
systems, that may cause people to wonder about the
way other countries select their leaders, make their'
decisions, transact their public business, but rarely and
only in our few good papers, do they do. this in regard
to ourselves.
When our speaker says editors should be on guard
'against reporters who have "bought the line peddled by
one cause or another," his words mean editors should
be on guard against reporters who've not bought the.
line that editors are trying to peddle.
But ' editors themselves only half believe in this
'mythic objectivity. If they did they'd pay the highest:
wages to the men who most, excel at this kind. of formula
ournalism. This isn't the case at 'all. The best paid;
writers are the columnists and feature writers who're
hired to express opinion, . ' , .
Newspaper executives are well pa+i. Most reporters;
aren't. They don't, enter the busincr;s for money but for;
'other reasons-excitement,' prestige, fascination with;
!our editor, woulA0jttro 34- R lea20410 8 : CIA-RDP8
to the "unvarnished ' '+b' X9 $ 0 ~f them is the uplifting do..'
facts." u r ; .. roan c rases a ter it long enou h, he ma ~
In practice, printing rho unvarnished facts can Ue, be able to kv; `., rent unvarnished facts, but some form
of t;:? ttra4h is never objective.,
a u 6 t 'u V tai / rt c.ona~~aentury nefvs p Y1 n?