Should Journalists Interpret The Events They Report Subjectively, As Capote Does, Showing Their Sympathies And Biases, Or Remain Entirely Objective?

Journalists are expected to give factual and accurate news to the audience as they are considered the link between the people and the events that happen in the world. The news given by journalist should be factual and not be biased. While performing their role of informing the public of news events, some journalists tend to interpret the news according to how they understand the situation. In some instances, this has benefited the audience, especially those that struggle to understand the aspect of some news events. In other cases, however, this action contributes to a backlash from the audience. In this study, the aspect of whether journalists should interpret the events they report subjectively will be analyzed as Capote does in the when reporting In Cold Blood. In his report, his emotions, sympathy, and bias were presented, but it is important for a journalist to remain objective when reporting.

One of the reasons that journalists should not interpret the events that they report is because it leads to giving the audience a biased opinion. By interpreting the news, they tell the audience what they think, and this may in turn be false. They should instead report the events factually without giving their opinion about it and let the audience interpret the events for themselves. Regardless of what the journalists think about the news event, they should refrain from interpreting the news because the audience will learn about their opinion. This will also affect their performance at work because they will report on matters that are relevant to them extensively and ignore or shallowly report the events that they do not consider important to them. Journalists determine whether people will get information from a station and when the journalists provide biased information, the station loses its credibility, and the viewers or readers prefer another station. Journalists should not let their views, opinions, and emotions get in the way of their duties and responsibilities to the audience. When presenting about the Gaza conflict, CNN showed its bias by indicating that the conflict was started by Islamic militants and even described Hamas as an Islamist militant group (Subtirelu 6). This shows the position that CNN holds on the war and what they think about the conflict. Journalists should also avoid interpreting events they present because their views and opinions may be offensive to the audience. In some cases, the event presented may be right and the viewer is okay with the news, but when the journalist decides to interpret the news in his understanding, the audience may be offended because they do not share their sentiments. This may lead to a backlash of the journalists and the company that they work for. This may, in turn, lead to people avoid watching or reading news events from them. Journalists should understand that viewership or readership of the news is important because it helps the companies to maintain their operations. Despite the fact that they may have their opinion about a certain event, they should avoid giving it to the public. If the news event is controversial, the journalist can talk to a person or professional that is directly connected to the event or situation to ensure that the audience understands the news event better (Foreman 199).

Interpreting a news event by journalists should also be avoided because it can lead them to distort the message that they intended to pass to the audience. In some cases, the journalists tend to interpret the event hoping that they will make it clear for the audience to understand, but this may instead backfire against them. The journalists may distort the message by including additional information that may be false about the news event, or they may also try to convince the audience that the message given is not accurate and explain to them how they understand the message. It is important for journalists to ensure that they refrain from interpreting news events. If the journalist is not sure about the news event because they have incomplete information about the issue, they should indicate that to the audience. This will avoid the journalists from reporting information that is wrong to the audience by giving them reports that have not been proven. During the Boston Marathon bombing, CNN, Fox News, Associated Press, and Boston Globe stated that the bomber had been arrested but were later forced to retract their comments as it was false. Reporters should ensure that they verify their information before reporting them to the public and avoid reporting events that have been obtained from anonymous sources (Guthrie 3).

In conclusion, it is clear that journalists should avoid interpreting news events and should instead focus more on what the public and their employers expect from them. Journalists should ensure that they present news that is factual, accurate and not biased. Although they may have their opinion about an event, they should avoid interpreting the event to the public because this may lead them to give a biased story. They may also distort the information from its original form or may offend the public.

Works Cited

Subtirelu, Nic. Two Tales of Gaza: Comparing Fox News and CNN’s Coverage of the Violence. Linguistic Pulse. July19, 2012. Web. Accessed December 17, 2015.

Guthrie, Marisa. Boston marathon Bombing: Rush to Break News Burns CNN, Fox News. Hollywood Reporter. April 4, 2013. Web. Accessed December 17, 2015.

Foreman, Gene. The Ethical Journalist: Making the Right Decisions in the Digital Age. United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2015.