Opinion

“By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.” As was usually the case, Oscar Wilde was being tongue-in-cheek when he wrote this. Yet when we examine modern journalism, I think that biting criticism is as warranted today as it was then.

If the stated goal of journalism is to speak truth to power and educate the public, I would contend that some common practices in our media fail to meet that goal.

And this isn’t just about the obvious culprits either. One could list example after example of Fox or Rebel News wearing their agendas on their sleeves as they mislead the public. But theirs is not a quest for objectivity, nor is such balance what most of their audience is seeking, despite what some may claim. So what of those other outlets who make a more genuine stab at objectivity?

Take for example, the actions of the Toronto Star several years ago in parting ways with their columnist, Desmond Cole.

The Star’s contention was that, as a person actively engaged in frontline activism advocating for Black people, Cole had compromised himself as a journalist. How can he properly report on a story when he himself has become the story, they asked.

This is an absurd premise. Of course we should want to dedicate column space from people most directly entangled in particular issues, especially in regards to advocacy of marginalized people.

The lived experience of people of colour defending their rights belongs in the centre of these stories. And we never seem to take similar issue when people who are the products and beneficiaries of the status quo are granted copious amounts of media time to defend it.

Then we have when last year the Washington Post ran a lengthy article about trans athletes competing in women’s sports. It included all sorts of opinion polls and interviews, a deep dive into public perception.

The only thing missing were any input from a single trans person or any scientific engagement with the biological realities of trans people in sports. They had space for some random pharmacist to talk about how it made her nervous to play a no-stakes tennis match against a transgender person, but no space for a single experiential and educationally informed interview.

It is not the function of journalism to simply take the perspectives of the general public that already marinates in the status quo, then regurgitate those words back to them.

It is the job of journalists to confront their readers with potentially uncomfortable perspectives from sources they might not otherwise encounter. Journalism should not just be a place for the ensconced middle class to listen to themselves talk.

That is by no means an exhaustive list of media missteps on those subjects, but the issue also extends beyond matters of race and gender.

That same Washington Post was also subject to a lawsuit due to it barring one of its journalists, Felicia Sonmez, from reporting on sexual assault because she herself was once a victim. She ultimately lost her case, but only because a judge ruled that this did not amount to criminal discrimination, not because the basic facts of the case are in dispute. The Post did deem it unseemly for a victim to control the narrative of sexual assault in their pages.

Then there is the fact that most media outlets have been guilty of giving undue weight to climate change deniers.

While some outlets are more guilty than others, its something of a tradition at this point for media to “balance” warnings from scientists of pending climate catastrophes against the opinions people with no expertise on the matter.

Perhaps this isn’t so surprising when many media sources are running alarming coverage about how terrible oncoming climate change is and the need to pivot socially, yet fail to investigate the validity of that Exxon ad they’re running alongside the piece, full of egregious claims that a fossil fuel company claiming to lead the charge into a green new future.

Sometimes the dissonance is a simple matter of following the money. Other times its just a misguided appeal to some slippery virtue. Whatever the case, the media needs to get over this fantasy of objectivity, to embrace journalism that amplifies dissonant voices and makes people embedded in the status quo uncomfortable.

Because if the mission of journalism is to speak truth to power, then objectivity ceases to be a virtue when it protects institutional hierarchies.

Alex Passey is a Winnipeg-based author.