Journalists aim to report fairly and without bias. That means we don’t inject our opinions or feelings into reports. Increasingly on TV news, especially on cable, we see anchors expressing opinions. Those opinions may respond to the day’s events or the behavior of a public official and you make agree with them. You may cheer them. But the opinions remain opinions.
President Trump attacks journalist almost on a daily basis.
So what should reporters do. Here’s what I learned and here’s what editors and news directors want you to do. Report what you see and hear. We all have biases. Step back and try to keep yours out of the report. Sometimes we need context when we report and that’s also what you need to consider.
For example, when President Trump says one thing in Trump Tower and another at a rally, you do your job by reporting that without comment.
The Washington Post reported objectively when it split the screen and played what he said the second time, and then played what he said the first time.
Jim Rutenberg, a reporter who covers reporters and the media for The New York Times, wrote an article, Trump Takes Aim at the Press, with a Flame Thrower, after Phoenix about the president’s persistent attacks on reporters and news outlets.
He interviewed a number of people including ABC Newsman George Stephanopoulos,
who said, “You have to trust that if we do our job and do it well and do it with integrity and don’t make mistakes, that in the end, the sort of fundamental idea behind the First Amendment — the truth will out — will actually take place.
CCNY Televison Journalism 