OBJECTIVE NEWS REPORTING

Abstract

First, the concept of objectivity in news reporting is presented in a scheme, assumed to contain its main components. The author's practical experiences from eight major objectivity studies, in which the components are operationalized and applied in content analyses, are reported and discussed. Finally, it is suggested that the tested criteria of objectivity should be complemented by an interest theory, in order to deal with the fundamental problem of the significance of different news items.