Why Journalists Should Remain Unbiased

As the burgeoning cyberspace world is overruling the declining newsprint circulation, previously unheard opinions are able to participate in public debate that was once dominated by the media elites. As more voices are being heard, charges of media bias have never been more profound then they are today. Americans form opinions based on what they hear and see and to a lesser extent, read. Therefore, journalists shouldn’t make slanted coverage about central issues like the war in Iraq, or the presidential campaign. Doing so could help citizens cast informed votes and make knowledgeable decisions on matters of public policy and doing so is vital to American democracy that news and other media be fair and unbiased.

In an era of polarized politics, citizens should be able to agree about what facts are, and if they don’t trust major sources of information then it is unlikely that the populace will be able to reach a consensus on what constitutes as the truth on the major issues of today. While journalists argue that their opinions do not matter because as professional journalists, they report what they observe without letting their opinions affect their judgment, but journalists make subject decisions every minute of their professional lives. Journalists choose what to cover as opposed to what not to cover, and which sources are credible compared to which are not, and which quote to use in a story and which to disregard. Surveys done by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press confirmed the prevailing rumor that “reporters tend to be more liberal than Americans as a whole, particularly on social issues such as abortion, gun control and gay right.” This taints news coverage and allows only one side of a debate to receive a fair hearing; when this happens, the truth suffers. As a country who values democracy to such a high extent, our news media reports should offer politically balanced, and not biased reports.

Newspapers are losing readers and advertising to the internet, which has led to downsizing, which “increases the coverage of ‘soft’ and sensationalistic news and a de-emphasis on coverage of government and foreign news.” These changes are undermining the “traditional journalistic values.”