People don’t want objective journalism

A quick look at your news consumption sources may say it all

A magazine and news stand in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

There’s no such thing as no-bias journalism. Every reporter that delivers “objective” information onto your newsfeed is shaped by their unique background, upbringing, and environment. In the English-speaking journalism world, having no bias often means having an anglocentric view.

Journalism is supposed to be a simple, straightforward medium to deliver information to the masses. Breaking the news used to be akin to providing valuable information, such as who are the latest political candidates running for president or what happened during an unfortunate fire. But now with the flow of instant information distribution via the internet, journalism may not be able to hold its own anymore.

A quick look at your newsfeed might give you a picture on how you consume your news. How much of it is from wire news sources (AFP, Reuters, Associated Press) and how much of it is wrapped in some form of analysis (commentary, columns, investigative pieces)?

One of the reasons I left journalism is because opinions have eclipsed facts in the search for more information.

I worked as a reporter covering the banking and financial industry for half a decade, writing about mergers and interviewing executives about their expansion plans in Asia. As the business cycle rolled on from one quarter to the next, one thought was constant: the world does not need yet another article on the UBS-Credit Suisse takeover or the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

In an ideal world, all I needed was the details of the UBS-CS merger term sheets or the amount of deposits that SVB held, and I’d be able to form my own opinion on the matter (“How bad is this situation, really?”). But context is hard to get a hold of, which is why we turn to people who seem to have an expertise on the subject. With that context-building comes bias and opinion, and I’m often swayed to agree with the commentary that is presented alongside the news.

My editors used to ask me one question every time I filed a story: what added value are we providing? Often that value-add is a data point that was not covered by peer publications, or a snappy hot-take quote from an expert.

At some point, I also have built enough context and subject matter expertise to deliver those hot-takes. But it’s taboo to inject a journalist’s own personal opinion into a piece. So I instead hunted people with hot takes and gathered their thoughts into a well-curated piece. One that hopefully presents balanced views from several commentators.

Unfortunately, objective news also does not garner the views or reads that a lot of incumbent journalism executives hold onto. For Chris Licht, that belief cost him his role as news network CNN’s CEO.

“The real reason Licht failed was not the way he executed his job but the way he conceived it in the first place. He wanted to turn CNN back into the neutral arbiter of truth that it once was (or seemed to be) without understanding that such a role is impossible in today’s fractured, polarized cable-news environment,” wrote David A. Graham for The Atlantic.

In other words, objective news does not sell. In a flurry of breaking news delivered instantly across the internet, people don't want more information. Instead, they want to be told what to think about that information.

If I want to make sense of the factual information from hard sources that I read on Twitter, such as a statement released by the police about a recent crime case or a weather warning from the government observatory body, I take them from people I trust, not necessarily the news companies they work for.

Some of these media personalities are journalists, such as tech reporter Kara Swisher (via her podcasts) and financial columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin (via his newsletters). Other sources are not necessarily practicing journalists, such as brand strategist Scott Galloway (via his podcasts and newsletters). A common thread they all have is that they weave their hot takes in alongside the news they deliver.

This news consumption pattern is mirrored across the media landscape, too. Some of the most popular podcasters of today, such as Joe Rogan and Ben Shapiro, aren’t journalists by training. TikTok is filled with people who aren’t journalists that are delivering their hot takes on the upcoming election or the latest national tragedy.

What’s left is a void of objective truth-tellers, with journalists now being encouraged to have a brand and personality online in order to gain more clicks and a following. The time to debate whether or not journalists’ evolution to news influencers is good for society has long passed. And unless we learn to value hard news, opinions will continue to eclipse the truth.

Thanks to friends who have me in their feeds: Greg Waning,

Camilo Moreno-Salamanca

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Sadia

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Kirsten Corbett

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Alissa Mears

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