Letter to the editor

Objectivity is a moving target

John Walker Aug. 16, 2004 From the print edition
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  Don’t lose any sleep over charges that HCN lacks objectivity. Middle-of-the-road pragmatists did not coax us out of the caves, launch the industrial revolution, or give birth to the idea that nature is more than a supporting cast of extras. All that and more, the good and the bad, was the work of advocates — many with ink-stained hands.

I have had extensive contact with the news media, print and electronic, local to national, over decades spent on the sharp edge of political activism. I have seen headlines distort content, found facts buried so deep in the body of a story that only the most dedicated reader could mine them, and traced back wire service accounts to find that one side of the story was meticulously excised. Worst of all, I have seen whole articles spiked by editors fearing a backlash from publishers, subscribers or advertisers.

As a witness to both reality and its journalistic descriptions, I learned in my teens that objectivity, however noble, is a moving target that bears few wounds.

John Walker
Coaldale, Colorado

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