Journalistic Power: Constructing the “Truth” and the Economics of Objectivity

ABSTRACT

This article explores journalists’ role as truth tellers by investigating the distinctions journalists draw between journalism and activism. Relying on 30 in-depth interviews with journalists and theories of media power, objectivity, and epistemology, two key themes are discussed: (1) narrative framing and style, and (2) the economics of objectivity within digital media. Examining journalism as culture, I offer a theory of journalistic power—the recognition that journalism is never neutral, truths are never disinterested, and journalists’ epistemic practices are influenced by the power dynamics embedded in the sociopolitical and historical contexts in which they work. This study reveals how the political economy of digital media and activist media-makers are complicating journalists’ truth claims, upending journalistic routines, and redefining the field. Journalism scholars and practitioners must identify the spaces of media power during all stages of news production and distribution.

KEYWORDS:

• Objectivity
• activism
• journalism culture
• epistemology
• framing
• media power

Acknowledgements

Thank you to James F. Hamilton, Azeta Hatef, and the two anonymous reviewers for your generous feedback on an earlier draft. I also want to express my gratitude to the journalists I interviewed for this study for candidly sharing their thoughts with me.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.