Why did the heterodox faction get covid so wrong?
These folks resist the overly simplified, mainstream press narratives. They push back relentlessly. They dig deeper to find the truth. But they didn't when it came to covid. Not for a while anyway.
There is a growing cohort of heterodox journalists, academics, personalities and voters (regular people) who simply do not align with prescribed standards of belief of either political party. They are neither Republican nor Democrat. They are neither “right” nor “left.” They are loyal to principle not party. They are skeptical of mainstream news narratives, they challenge, they weigh incoming data and information and decipher implications as objectively as possible.
There used to be a time when the conventional wisdom and protocol was that journalists did not make their party affiliation known. They were doing their jobs in service of truth, not activism for either “side.” Journalistic objectivity was a guiding principle, taught in journalism programs across the country. Or simply on the job when journalists were working class stalwarts rather than over-educated elites and not-so-disguised social justice activists.
But now, there is a trend in newsrooms that furthers the notion that striving for “objectivity” in journalism creates the illusion of balance which isn’t even possible. And that bothsidesism —especially as it pertains to matters of race, LGBTQ rights, broader inequality, climate change, and many other issues — denies the “lived experience” of journalists. Newsrooms seek to move beyond objectivity, in order to build trust with readers. Or so they say.
This ethos espouses that “objective pursuit of truth” as a guiding principle cannot exist unless journalists ignore their own identities. Their own truths. And that ignoring personal truth warps reality.
“Objectivity” is defined by most dictionaries as expressing or using facts without distortion by personal beliefs, bias, feelings or prejudice. Journalistic objectivity has been generally understood to mean much the same thing. But increasingly, reporters, editors and media critics argue that the concept of journalistic objectivity is a distortion of reality.
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