Originally, it was not the journalist who was imagined to be objective. It was his method….
It is actually more helpful, and more realistic, to understand journalistic truth as a process – or continuing journey toward understanding – which begins with the first-day stories and builds over time….
Some journalists have suggested fairness and balance as substitutes for truthfulness. Fairness is too abstract and, in the end, more subjective than the truth. Fair to whom? How do you test fairness? Truthfulness, for all its difficulties, at least can be tested. Balance is too subjective. Balancing a story by being fair to both sides may not be fair to the truth, if both sides not in fact have equal weight. Is global warning a fact? In those cases where there are more than two sides, how does one determine which sides to honor?…
The press needs to concentrate on synthesis and verification. Sift out the rumor, innuendo, the insignificant and the spin and concentrate on what is true and important about a story. As citizens encounter more data, they have more need, not less, for identifiable sources dedicated to verifying the information, highlighting what is important to know and filtering out what is not.
….Rosenstiel and Kovach, Elements of Journalism