Bias and Objectivity

Bias and objectivity are among the factors that research on news and ideology looks at. In
essence news reports are expected to be objective representations of events and of the
world (see Mayr 2008b: 2). News journalists are expected to be objective, neutral and
accurate observers of and reporters on what happens (Machin, 2008: 62). As Hachten
(1999: xx) puts it:
“[…] in the dangerous, strife-ridden world of the late twentieth century, I believe
that the billions of people inhabiting this planet deserve to know more about the
events and trends that affect their lives and well-being. Only journalists who are
free and independent of authoritarian controls and other constraints can begin the
difficult task of reporting the news and information we all need to know.”
Some scholars maintain that newspapers have historically played that role. Conboy
(2007: 5) remarks that earlier newspapers were characterized by the motivation to make
available the factual information that used to distinguish them from the other types of
printed material, such as “the more controversial broadsides and pamphlets” (ibid.). He
further points out that lapses in “this 'facticity' were what critics of newspapers held
against the press, which meant that early newspapers endeavoured to be as accurate as the
technologies and communications of the time would allow” (ibid.).
This view is echoed by Machin (2008: 62) who maintains that "the consensual view of
the role of the journalist is a seeker of truth, the eyes and ears of the people". He further
confirms that, from such a perspective, “journalism is viewed as an independent power
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that endeavours bravely to find the facts and deliver them to the public with neutrality, so
that the truth could be known” (ibid.).
In spite of Conboy’s (2007) reference to the ‘facticity’ of reporting in early newspapers,
he further acknowledges that such ‘facticity’ did not mean a fundamental quest for
objectivity. However, he maintains that “[d]espite their reliance on a factual reporting
style […], newspapers are relatively new to the concept of objectivity as a professional
ideal. Eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century newspapers were notorious for their
overt support for the political and commercial positions and interests which often
subsidized them for that support […]. [I]t was only at the start of the end of the
nineteenth century that newspapers began to consistently adhere to certain common
perception of objectivity as a means of promoting their own professionalism and political
independence” (Conboy, 2007: 19). In the same regard, Machin and Leeuwen (2007)
note that
“Early nineteenth-century newspapers were an important vehicle of political
communication. They did not yet separate ‘fact’ and ‘comment’. They openly
took sides in political issues and carried editorials on the front page in which they
conducted debates with ‘correspondents’ that could last for days.” (Machin and
van Leeuwen 2007: 8)
Research on news discourse consistently shows that news producers tend, despite their
strict obligation of adherence to objectivity, to use means that favour certain ideological
positions and certain social or political groups as well as those that discredit others. Such
ideological positions find their way into news stories through the selection of stories,
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what to foreground and what to background, what type of background and contextual
information to provide and how to present these (see section 2.3. above), and in addition
through the selection of sources and attribution (see section 2.6.1. below).