In what way famous journalists can alter the planet.

Posted by Gale on April 21st, 2021

Great journalism is so often associated with absolute objectivity, however in a postmodern world that is no longer real.

The past few years have tossed a sharp light onto the role of journalism in our postmodern world. If whatever is subjective and there is no such thing as objective reality, how is one to identify what is genuine and what is narrative? Well, everything is narrative, and your ideological views determine where you get your news just as much as the news determines your views. It's easy to end up being trapped in an infinite feedback loop, unless one can understand that it does not necessarily matter what is closest to an unbiased fact, however rather which analysis of occasions is the most important reality. What are the effects of unethical journalism that is complicit in validating tyranny, ecological genocide, corruption, or other abuses that we understand to be categorically wrong?

There are few job roles that can have a genuine, significant effect on the state of mankind and the progress of human improvement. Plenty have a crucial effect in a pragmatic sense, but couple of compete with the amazing importance of journalistic writing, in reach, scope, and when utilized for good, in making the world a far better place. People like Lara Omarsdottir can appreciate the power of words and the main role that narrative keeps in human understanding, and whilst the normal conception of journalism ethics holds neutrality and lack of predisposition in high regard, the nature of composing and reporting makes this a flight of fancy, at least to some extent. Although fairness and approaching things with an open mind is clearly important, the method which a particular narrative is framed, or even the existence of the story in the first place, is inherently prejudiced, and it's vital that that is understood so that one can acknowledge the methods which journalism performs its most important tasks.

The qualities and responsibilities of a journalist are not to relay truths dispassionately, but rather to develop a narrative that can make the world a far better place. Without Eugene Scott and his peers adding to a narrative of resistance in a dangerous political moment, who understands what the destructive repercussions could have been for the world today, and generations to come. The same opts for Fiona Harvey and her editors, without whom the narrative around the environment crisis might not be anywhere near as immediate as the really existential circumstances need. This is where the genuinely essential work of a journalist lies, in cultivating and nurturing a narrative that can prevent atrocities and plant urgent issues firmly into the collective consciousness. While this might not necessarily be unbiased, nor absolutely unbiased, that has not actually ever been the function of the reporter, it's only now that we are starting to understand the true authority of stories, and the words that relay them.