Herber Refutes Boyd's Argument
“Complete impartiality is like perfection; an ideal for which many will strive but none will wholly attain. Even the most respected jornalist can only be the sum of his or her beliefs, experience and attitudes, the product of society, culture and upbringing.”(Boyd Andrews et al 2008: pg 33)
Based on Boyd’s argument, it is very difficult to be free from bias, however hard one may try to compensate by applying professional standards of objectivity and impartiality. People do have their politics, they try to keep them out of news, but that is an uphill task.
“The process of eradicating bias begins by recognizing that every argument has at least two sides, and the truth probably lies somewhere between them. The journalist must stand back and view the argument from all sides, before scrupulously drawing out the key points to produce as full, balanced and impartial a picture as possible in the time available.” (Boyd, 2008) …show more content…
He says, right from the initial stage in a news decision-making process the event is subject to individual interpretation, and that in itself means it is subject to a personal value judgement. News judgement is largely subjective, and the results are all too often in the mind of the beholder. Facts to one person are often lies to another. This is why it is so difficult to discuss and synthesize such concepts as news balance and impartiality; what is important is the preservation of accuracy. (Herbert, 2000. p. 67)
Herbert Gans (1980: 182) quotes an atricle by Peter Schrag in this regard: ‘Every reporter operates with certain assumptions about what constitutes normative behavior, if not good society, and the more “objective” he tries to be, the more likely those assumptions will remain
Based on Boyd’s argument, it is very difficult to be free from bias, however hard one may try to compensate by applying professional standards of objectivity and impartiality. People do have their politics, they try to keep them out of news, but that is an uphill task.
“The process of eradicating bias begins by recognizing that every argument has at least two sides, and the truth probably lies somewhere between them. The journalist must stand back and view the argument from all sides, before scrupulously drawing out the key points to produce as full, balanced and impartial a picture as possible in the time available.” (Boyd, 2008) …show more content…
He says, right from the initial stage in a news decision-making process the event is subject to individual interpretation, and that in itself means it is subject to a personal value judgement. News judgement is largely subjective, and the results are all too often in the mind of the beholder. Facts to one person are often lies to another. This is why it is so difficult to discuss and synthesize such concepts as news balance and impartiality; what is important is the preservation of accuracy. (Herbert, 2000. p. 67)
Herbert Gans (1980: 182) quotes an atricle by Peter Schrag in this regard: ‘Every reporter operates with certain assumptions about what constitutes normative behavior, if not good society, and the more “objective” he tries to be, the more likely those assumptions will remain