Professional Detachment (and Attachment) in Journalism

Abstract

In the so-called “post-truth” political world (Roberts 2010)—often supported directly and indirectly by superficial, partisan, or even “fake” news—there seems to be as much need as ever to commit to journalistic objectivity, impartiality or whatever operative title implies that truthful reporting matters. If concerns about news bias and accuracy weren’t clear enough, the 2016 U.S. presidential election certainly sounded the alarms: It’s conceivable that Hillary Clinton’s electability was affected late in the election cycle because of, among other things, false reports about how she and her campaign manager masterminded a pedophilia ring in a Washington D.C. pizzeria (Gillin 2016). Because of the apparent increase in public vulnerability to fake news, in part due to social media’s influence on its unfiltered spread, it would seem imperative that journalists who wish to separate themselves from the journalistic riff raff must commit to a more professional standard to make that distinction clearer. This chapter addresses one aspect of ethical newsgathering relevant to this discussion—professional detachment—particularly whether or when detachment should (or should not) play a role in journalistic professionalism.