Lara Parpan, Women's Health Philippines EIC.When I heard Lara Parpan, Women's Health Philippines Editor-in-Chief, talk about her experience in journalism last January, she made it clear that it is not an easy task. But what really struck me most in her talk is when she said:"Objectivity is bullshit." One can see the negativity and impossibility attached with objectivity in journalism. Fast forward two weeks ago, Maria Ressa's Storyline episode made a similar argument about objectivity: "The idea of standard model journalism came out in 1990...in quotes "objective journalism." I think that it is all a myth, you know maybe when the world was simpler it was possible. But I know, even with working for CNN, that it is impossible to be objective; impossible. You have your lenses, you have cultural lenses."
Part 3 of Maria Ressa's StoryLine Interview
The belief of these two journalists are testaments that individuals are only filtering news that are not free from subjectivity and also buttressed Lisle's (2009) argument that media does not revolve around a neutral space. When individuals rely on subjective truth because of the media, Baudillard's idea of a postmodern society and simulacrum materialize. (Merrin, 2005). The revolution of today's new media as a source of information is also a manifestation that societies today are embracing a postmodern world, which makes individuals have a more debilitating experience in knowing what is true.
The multitude of truths unlocked in media's avalanche of stories creates a double-edged sword. The unfavorable side of media as public space is its ability to make some individuals to succumb in the quicksand of poor reasoning. When an individual hears a news and simply scratch the surface, he may lose his way in understanding the mishap of a situation.because of the different truths. The comforting side, however, is the ability of media to allow individuals to analyze and stir a lot of questions to find out their 'truth'. That, in itself, can allow us to be better citizens because it saves us the mess of acting like a sheep when somebody says a thing in national television. This can ultimately help us in our choices as citizens, from choosing who to vote for to understanding the world we live in using our lenses.
References:
The multitude of truths unlocked in media's avalanche of stories creates a double-edged sword. The unfavorable side of media as public space is its ability to make some individuals to succumb in the quicksand of poor reasoning. When an individual hears a news and simply scratch the surface, he may lose his way in understanding the mishap of a situation.because of the different truths. The comforting side, however, is the ability of media to allow individuals to analyze and stir a lot of questions to find out their 'truth'. That, in itself, can allow us to be better citizens because it saves us the mess of acting like a sheep when somebody says a thing in national television. This can ultimately help us in our choices as citizens, from choosing who to vote for to understanding the world we live in using our lenses.
References:
Edkins, J., & Zehfuss, M. (2009). How do we find out what's going on in the world? . Global politics: A new introduction (pp. 147-169). London: Routledge.
Merrin, W. (2005). Baudrillard and the media: A critical introduction. London: Polity.
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