THEORY REVIEW
THE IDEAL AND THE MYTH OF OBJECTIVITY

Abstract

How do journalistic realities arise? Do journalists simply record events, or are they inevitably involved participants? Is objectivity a useful ideal or a myth? This essay offers a compact introduction to the discourse of constructivism, which is based on the assumption that absolute knowledge of truth is impossible, i.e. that we as human beings are inescapably biased. Following a general introduction to constructivist thinking, short interviews with principal thinkers of constructivism—Heinz von Foerster and Paul Watzlawick—will highlight the main ideas of the approach.

Notes

1. These interviews are excerpted from the book The Certainty of Uncertainty—dialogues introducing constructivism (Poerksen, 2004), published by Imprint Academic (PO Box 200, Exeter EX5 5YX, UK; http://www.imprint-academic.com).