The view from somewhere Undoing the myth of journalistic objectivity

In an age when traditional journalistic practices and assumptions are failing, this book should be on the desk of every journalist and every student of journalism. Wallace grapples with a time-honored journalistic assumption: the insistence that journalists can stand apart from their topics, reporting both accurately and dispassionately from above the fray. This is perhaps the greatest problem facing journalism today. Wallace left traditional news media, refusing to bow to its ruling assumptions, and is now working to craft new directions for the troubled profession. In this book he shows how journalism can move away from the traditional, self-destructive professional model to a more effective model of public journalism and citizen journalism. Inserting in the narrative his personal story and experience, Wallace discusses how journalists can use this new model in news stories, with the emphasis on "story." Though the model that Wallace suggests is not new, the changes it signifies are more important today than they have ever been and are absolutely necessary if journalism is to survive as something more than propaganda and curated aggregation. Summing Up: Essential. All readers. --Aaron John Barlow, New York City College of Technology (CUNY)

An examination of a significant, contentious issue in the field of journalism.Soon after Wallace decided on a career in journalism after college, he began to question the wisdom of traditional journalistic "objectivity." When he lost a job in public radio due to his open questioning of the objectivity paradigm, he conducted a deep inquiry into the history and validity of objectivity in the field. Wallace acknowledges that some of his questioning stems from his personal identity as a transgender individual. Even though the author's public radio employer desired newsroom diversity, he still got fired. It's important to note that by questioning objectivity, Wallace is not abandoning the goal of factual accuracy and context. Rather, the author maintains that objectivity is often the ideology of the status quo and that journalists should sometimes feel free to openly question the status quo. As examples, Wallace mentions reporting beyond the official police versions of fatal shootings, government versions of wars waged against enemies abroad, and common depictions of gay and transgender lives. The author's historical research led him to boundary-busting nonobjective journalists, including Ida B. Wells, Heywood Broun, Randy Shilts, Linda Greenhouse, David Brock, Masha Gessen, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, and Gary Younge. Because he focuses primarily on journalists who might be labeled renegades, Wallace also addresses the possibility of confirmation bias regarding his arguments. The author delves into the thicket of angry, often misleading rhetoric spread by Rush Limbaugh's radio show, Fox TV personalities, and other similar outlets. Wallace is rarely preachy in his arguments; his case comes across as nuanced and subtle. How, for example, would traditional objectivity play out in a journalistic account of climate change? Is there really another "side" to tell responsibly? The author hopes for an eventual journalism of collaboration with the voiceless rather than a process of simply extracting information from them as exploited sources.A compelling addition to the ongoing conversation on journalism and how it is practiced and consumed. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.