Should journalists protest?

Add a Comment

2 Comments

Comment by Leslie Vandever on November 30, 2008 at 7:56pm

When I was employed by a newspaper group, I was told that I could not participate in protests, nor even put political stickers, etc. on my car. I didn't mind, really. I agree that as a journalist, my own opinion shouldn't show up in my writing on an issue, unless I'm specifically writing an opinion piece. In addition, I believe it's better that readers and potential readers don't know what my personal opinion is on issues.

Now, perhaps that's wrong. But I found during my career as a reporter, and later, as an editor, that keeping such things to myself meant that I could talk easily with people on all sides of any issue, as they didn't feel they needed to speak to my opinions or hide their own from me. In the end, it just makes sense.

And that never meant that I didn't have my own opinions, or that I didn't express them among friends and family. I just kept them out of the newsroom and as best I could, out of my writing.

Comment by Paul Balcerak on November 12, 2008 at 3:59pm

I think if you want to protest, you should protest. Everyone knows journalists are supposed to be "impartial" or "objective," but everyone also knows that it's impossible to actually be impartial or objective. The best you can do is pretend to be either and I don't think people have much respect for pretenders.

Sure there's the concern about, "Hey, if I'm writing about the Prop. 8 protests, I probably shouldn't be protesting." But even if you just feel so strongly about an issue that you want to go protest on its behalf, you probably shouldn't be reporting on it in the first place. (Not to be a shameless self promoter, but I've got more thoughts on this topic here.)