Examining the Debate: Objectivity vs. Attachment in Journalism

This essay explores the complex landscape of modern journalism, focusing on the debate between objectivity and attachment. It examines arguments presented by figures like Martin Bell, who advocates for a journalism of attachment, and contrasts them with the traditional emphasis on objective reporting. The essay delves into the reliability and potential biases inherent in both approaches, using examples to illustrate how objective journalism can lead to ethical dilemmas and how biased reporting can be used both negatively and positively. It distinguishes between biased news, which promotes personal agendas, and factual news, which highlights suppressed issues. The essay concludes by acknowledging the limitations of both objective and attachment-based journalism, emphasizing the importance of ethical considerations and the potential consequences of journalists actively influencing events.

Running Head: JOURNALISM
Journalism
Name of the Student
Name of the University

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Introduction
Journalism is a field of wide range of opportunities and analysis as it provides a very
challenging outlook to various modern day activities. Journalism generally includes reporting of
various incidents worldwide including political issues, scientific discoveries, sports results and
others. However, journalism is not restricted to reporting only; journalism is very powerful field
that can change the course of a political movement or bring the attention of the entire world to a
particular problem that has been ignored for quite some time. Hence, the journalists have very
important responsibilities of delivering the right news to the world. In recent times, journalism
has been facing severe criticism from various people around the world for negative approach
towards world situation and the role it plays for promoting wars and rivalries between various
countries, political parties and other entities (Hunter 2015). Regarding journalism, most of the
researchers have different and contradicting opinions trying to justify the decline of journalism
and how to keep it alive in the current political situation of the world. For the time being, it is
preferable that if one type of journalism is not the best approach to certain situations, coexistence
should be established between objectivity and attachment.
In this essay, a brief discussion has been undertaken in order to analyze the arguments put
forward by the veteran BBC correspondent Martin Bell and suitable arguments have also been
placed in favor of why broadcast news reporters should or should not abandon objectivity.
Journalism, Objectivity and Relevant Arguments
In terms of the content and types of data published in the journal reports, journalism can
be of various types, e.g. war journalism, social media broadcast, media coverage on specific

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events and others. However, in terms of characteristics, journalism can be mainly of two
different types: bystander journalism and journalism of attachment. Researchers have
contradicting opinions regarding the type of journalism that should be allowed and what is
beneficial for journalism itself (Iorio 2014). Some researchers argue that journalists should carry
more human responsibilities instead of just standing by and capturing the entire incident for
reporting instead of any attempt to help avoid the event entirely. One well-known example in the
bystander journalism is an incident that happened a few years ago in New York City subway
train. In this particular incident, one man was pushed on the train tracks during an altercation and
he was trying to get back up on the platform before an incoming train hit him and crushed him to
death (Maras 2013). During this entire incident, a journalist was present and he captured the
entire incident in this video camera, which he reported and published in the next day’s
newspaper. The journalist was strictly criticized by people and media itself for not attempting to
save the man and record his death instead. He defended himself by saying that there are other
people closer to him who also did not try to save the man. Veteran BBC correspondent Martin
Bell was one of the noted people who openly criticized this incident and objective media as a
whole. He argued that if journalism does not abandon objectivity, journalism will continue to
decline and the only way to stop that is to accept journalism of attachment to be more ethically
acceptable to people (Blaagaard 2013). Some other researchers and veteran journalists have also
expressed their opinions on the type of journalism to be followed in order to prevent its gradual
decline. However, most of the journalists have opined for journalism of objectivity, contrary to
Martin Bell’s opinion. The arguments in favor of objective journalism can be further clarified as
follows.

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Reliability of the Report – This is the digital age and people now only believe news or
reports that have certain and visual proof. This is only possible if the journalism is objective and
the journalist records the entire incident without participating in it i.e. bystander journalism.
Unbiased Reporting – The main essence of objective journalism is that it is mostly
unbiased in nature and it analyzes the conditions / situations of both sides of the story. The
journalists following objectivity should always have the main objective of posting unbiased news
in form of the documents of facts only without any form of personal opinions. One common
technique to post unbiased news is to avoid the use of adjectives as one objective can easily tell
the reader whether the journalist is posting unbiased news or not.
The main objective of journalism of objectivity is to always post unbiased news without
personal opinions and attacks. However, with time and the development of digital media, the
main essence of unbiased journalism is often lost. In many newspapers and news reports, there
are subtle hints of biased opinions from the journalists themselves that are mainly influenced by
various factors including political influence (Ginosar and Cohen 2017). As per the rules in most
countries of the world, the government has no specific control of journalism and hence the
journalists have the power to investigate a particular news story and post them accordingly in the
news media. However, with the increase in political involvement in every aspect of the society
and the simultaneous increase in crime rates, most of the newspapers are influenced or forced by
political entities to post the wrong or even biased news.
However, some researchers feel that posting biased news is sometimes useful, especially
in critical situations like domestic rebellion, violence and others. In order to justify the same, the
following examples are used.

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Example 1 – Let there be an internal rebellion in a particular state of a country. In this
situation, the only way of rebels to know about the rest of the country and political decisions is
through news media. In this respect, journalism can play an extremely vital role in either flaming
or downplaying the rebellion by posting biased news. In the first case, the journalists may post
biased news against the government and it will only further fuel the rebellion. In the second case,
the posted news will highlight the positive steps to be taken by the government in order to cool
down the rebellion and it will help to bring down the same.
Example 2 – Let there be particular news regarding the number of death sentences
ordered against homicide and other criminals. In this case, a particular journalist may post
numerical regarding the number of death sentences given and the decrease in the rate of
homicide incidents as a result of the same. While the publication of these statistics may further
help to reduce the homicidal crimes, the question of ethics also arises with one main point of
argument – whether death penalty is justified or not. Hence, journalism of objectivity may give
rise to debates and ethical dilemma even though the objective of posting unbiased news is
fulfilled.
In both the examples presented, it can be seen that the case of ethical and moral dilemma
is arising from the journalism of objectivity (Fisher 2016). Even if the core value of objectivity is
followed for the entire reporting process, the lack of ethical attachment with the news makes it
unreliable according to some of the researchers. Again, some other researchers further studied
the limitations of objectivity and put forward the argument that the subtlety of information
presented in objective report often also bypasses its core values. Furthermore, the lack of suitable
presentation of the news often makes it unfair and negatively biased (Post 2015). It is the duty of

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the journalists to convince the readers that the posted news is completely unbiased and actual
truths are presented instead of personal feelings, opinions and others.
There is a very thin line of difference between biased news and reporting the actual truth
that is not directly apparent to others and needs to be highlighted. In order to make the
differences clear, the following are explained as follows.
Biased News – The news is called bias when the journalist expresses his own opinions
regarding a particular event or story and highlights only the facts that he feels necessary and
hides the rest of the news (Skovsgaard et al. 2013). Although this type of reporting should only
be presented in editorials, sports columns and opinion reports, nowadays, many newspapers post
biased news for various reasons. Firstly, the biased news on a hot topic raises the interests of
common readers and increases the revenue of the news office by increasing the number of
readers. Secondly, due to political influence, the journalist may post biased news that reflect the
innocence of the entity whereas the reality in completely different (Lesage and Hackett 2014).
This is one of the main reasons, journalism is set to be on the decline as more and more people
around the world are losing faith in the journalists’ reports. Furthermore, biased journalism can
never reflect the true situation of the event or problem; it only highlights an entity or an event
that provides personal gains to a certain entity or a group of people or even an organization on a
whole.
Factual News – The news is called factual news when the journalist uses a certain degree
of bias while highlighting a certain event that needs to be spread but is not gaining coverage.
Although certain degree of bias is used in this, it does not any harm for the journalism; it actually
follows the ethical side of journalism and reporting and also benefits common people in a

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general idea (Wahl-Jorgensen et al. 2016). For instance, in a certain unrest in a particular city or
town, the journalist can use his bias to highlight the internal issues that are suppressed within the
common people and are not allowed to go out in to national public. Here, the biasing is necessary
to determine what is wrong and what is right as well as what must be reflected to bring to light
the true condition of the situation. However, the journalist should be aware that he should not
directly post his biased opinions; he has to present the news in such a way that there are no hints
of biased news and the entire story appears to be unbiased and true. One simple way to do that is
to just post the facts without any need to explain the issue with own ideas and the use of
adjectives (Friend and Singer 2015). Some journalists often cross the limit and provide stories
and reports that are clearly biased in nature and as a result, lose credibility among the viewers
and readers. This type of journalism is also unfair and there is no balance in the report or news
posted.
Martin Bell, the BBC veteran, has highlighted these limitations of objective journalism
and called for the use of journalism of attachment i.e. the journalism in which the journalist is
actively involved in a certain event and takes bias following moral obligations. However, the
main problem with this type of journalism is that it is generally applicable for war journalism and
the active participation of journalists in such circumstances may result in loss of their lives (as
evident in the death of Marie Colvin while reporting Syria) as well as other serious issues.
Journalism of attachment has other implications and ethical dilemmas regarding the role played
by the journalist for changing the course of events. The main essence of the journalism of
attachment is that the journalists need to participate in an event in which he is involved for
reporting and he has the power to change the course of events in his bias (Singer 2014). Due to
this, the neutrality of the report is lost as the journalist has to take one side during the event.

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Furthermore, the choice of bias in this type of journalism depends on the moral judgment of the
journalist. For instance, the journalist may confuse between the “good” and “bad” side of the
event and may take side with the “bad”. However, as a journalist of attachment, he has the moral
obligation to take the side of the “good” and develop an emotional attachment with the entity in
order to highlight the “good” part of the event or story.
Some researchers, in this respect, as presented another ethical problem that may arise in
the journalism of attachment. This problem arises when the journalist takes the side of the “moral
combatants”, they may be treated as combatants by the opposing entity i.e. it presents a great
danger for the journalists to be targeted by the opposing entity as a part of the combatant team
(Fink and Schudson 2014). Evidences of this problem can be seen numerous incidents taking
place in Egypt, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Palestine, India, Pakistan and others where hundreds of
journalists have been abducted, imprisoned or even executed for supporting morality in these
states. Hence, with the journalism of attachment, the issues of morality as well as life risks of the
journalists occur due to which, it is not a suitable alternative solution to the journalism of
objectivity.
Marie Colvin is a prime example of the journalists who actively followed journalism of
attachments. She was mainly a war journalist and she travelled to various disturbed areas of the
world during wars or severe unrest among the people. She also actively participated in the rescue
missions as evident from the East Timor war of 1999 when she helped to rescue at least 1500
people from the Indonesian attacks (Gynnild 2014). She was also involved with the Kosovo
Liberation Army during 1990s when she took the side with Kosovo against the Serbs as
according to her, “Kosovo was good” and “Serbia was evil”. However, here arises another
ethical dilemma – the choice of good or bad. In these types of cases like civil war, war for

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independence and others, the “good” or “evil” is not determined by the activities performed by
the entities but the perspective of the views of the events or wars. On the other hand, the reporter
may have one perspective while the readers and viewers have others (Esser and Umbricht 2013).
Furthermore, this type of perspective based biasness may further fuel unrest and wars instead of
stopping them. Hence, from this, it is evident that journalism is a big ethical dilemma regarding
which method is to be followed and how to maintain political and moral neutrality.
From the analysis presented above, it can be safe to finally conclude that although
journalism of objectivity is not without issues or moral dilemmas (as presented forward by
Martin Bell); journalism of attachment is not its alternative. Journalism of attachment has its own
problems and ethical dilemmas that can give birth to massive debates, political unrest and others
and furthermore, also poses threat to the lives of the journalist (Deuze and Witschge 2017). On
the other hand, journalism of objectivity solves many of the problems and although the bias of
the journalists may be highlighted by objectivity, however, the presentation of the right facts
with suitable evidences can cause the viewers or readers to change their opinions regarding the
bias of the news.
Conclusion
From the analysis of various arguments and reports, it can be concluded that the
journalists should stick to objectivity at least for some time (the next 30–50 years) instead of
getting involved in the journalism of attachment. Martin Bell’s argument states that the journalist
in times of moral and ethical dilemma should make bias and take side with the ethically “good”
and present the facts accordingly. However, the main drawback for this lies in the fact that this
type of news will be seriously inaccurate (unless some proven facts or statistics are presented)

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and also it presents only one side of the story. Objectivity on the other hand gives a much wider
view to the readers and they can know about unbiased and real facts without the presence of any
personal opinions of the journalists. Various other researchers have also put forward different
opinions that contradict each other in order to justify their choices of journalism that should be
allowed and what is beneficial for journalism itself. Finally, it is to be noted that if one type of
journalism cannot be followed, coexistence is necessary that will find journalism to follow both
objectivity and attachment depending on the criticality of the situation the journalist is reporting.
Furthermore, the country heads should also understand that journalists are for capturing and
sharing the right news to the world and not for participating in the events itself that may change
the entire course of the story.

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