Objectivity’s Conjuncture: Generational Shifts in American Journalism’s Epistemic Contest

• In Event: 30420 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 16: Race, Neighborhoods, Institutions

Abstract

This paper examines how three generations of American journalists - students, early-career, and veteran professionals engage with journalistic objectivity in a turbulent media landscape. Based on 40 qualitative interviews, preliminary findings reveal that the three generational cohorts often conceptualize objectivity as unobtainable and mythic. However, their engagement with objectivity as a meta-norm - a concept that promotes related conventions such as balance, neutrality, and distance; provokes varying experiences across race, gender, and generation.

Author

• Chad Rhym, University of Iowa