Media companies have started making more active stances in the reportage of human rights and other issues. Is this what journalists should do?
“Objectivity is a myth,” announced Alvito de Souza, Secretary General of SIGNIS Belgium. His sentiments were largely echoed in the ‘Advocacy vs. objectivity – Media and human rights’ plenary session of the third day of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum. Many of them expressed their opinions that journalism should be kept as a separate entity from advocacy.
Here are their thoughts on the issue:
“The journalist is not proposing a viewpoint; the journalist should present the truth and allow people to make their opinions. Bloggers are not bound by a code of ethics; they can say whatever they want to say. Journalists invest in establishing a track record of credibility. Does the person have a reputation for speaking the truth, to presenting the facts, or interpreting facts according to a certain line of thinking?” — Eduardo del Buey, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Commonwealth Secretariat, U.K.
“Objectivity is a myth. No one will be able to tell a good story if they don’t have a good point of view.” – Alvito de Souza, Secretary General, SIGNIS, Belgium
“In recent years, we have seen media themselves begin to abandon the field in what was traditionally known as journalism. They have begun to abandon the fundamental principles of what make good journalism. These are: 1. Respect the truth 2. Be independent and 3. Respect your audience. Do no harm.” — Aidan White, International Media Specialist, Belgium
“In Iran, it’s not because you’re a human rights advocate or a human rights journalist that you cover human rights—it’s because human rights in every aspect of Iranian society have been violated.” —Fred Andon Petrossians, Online editor in chief of Radiao Farda, Iran Editor of Harvard Global Voices, Czech Republic
“Journalists can go beyond just presenting; they can also describe solutions. Journalism still mains to be largely solutions, but it’s not prescriptions. That’s where advocacies go; they’re about demanding action. Journalism offers information; advocacies offer solutions, telling us which actions to take.” —Thomas R. Lansner, Professor of International Media and Politics at Columbia University
By: Bianca Consunji
