Stop arguing about objectivity and start serving your audience

There’s been a recent flurry of papers and columns on objectivity. I’ve read them all. While there is clearly a generational shift underway in the standards of American journalism, is there really a debate?

Marty Baron, former Washington Post editor, started off this outpouring of philosophical waxing with a straightforward 3,200-word defense of journalism’s traditional ideal of objectivity. Wesley Lowery, a former Post reporter who went toe to toe with Baron during his time at the paper,  responded with a 4,200-word critique of the ham-handed way newsrooms have practiced objectivity. 

A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, tried to reframe the debate as a look at the threat to journalistic independence. 12,000 words. 

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