Wesley Lowery at the Foster-Foreman Conference
Situation Definition:
An award-winning journalist, Wesley Lowery, spoke about his experiences of racial injustice and police brutality at the annual Foster-Foreman Conference of Distinguished Writers at Penn State. Lowery, a national reporter and a Pulitzer Prize winner, has been writing for the Washington Post since February 2014.
Lowery covers law enforcement, justice, race and politics. His project, the Fatal Force Project, won him the Pulitzer Prize and since then, has covered more on racial issues. Two ethical issues that were brought to my attention was his philosophy of objectivity in journalism and his purpose to discover the statistics of police brutality throughout the country.
Analysis:
In a question and answer session following Lowery’s speech a student asked a question about objectivity while covering stories. Lowery responded “I don’t believe in objectivity, I don’t think it exists. I strive to be fair…” Journalists are taught to write objectively, to present facts and neither disagree nor agree with the facts. For Lowery to say objectivity does not exist in his writing is something that surprised the audience. Lowery strives to be fair and to write in a manner that seems equal, justice and fair-minded.
Objectivity in journalism is a complex issue. There are many definitions of objectivity used in journalism and how its reflected in stories. Hackett said “the ideal of objectivity suggests that facts can be separated from opinion or value judgements, and that journalists can stand apart from the real-world events whose truth or meaning they transfer to the news audience by means of neutral language and competent reporting techniques” (as cited in Muñoz-Torres, 2012, p. 232). Lowery’s philosophy that objectivity does not exist can be seen as an ethical issue in reporting. Reporting in a simple explanation is facts and truth of an event that had occurred.
There is a fine line between objectivity and subjectivity. Lowery has a strong passion for injustice, police brutality and racial issues. It can sometimes be hard for Lowery to not enforce his own thoughts and emotions into a piece he is writing. His goal to be fair and to show the truth to readers is not wrong because of the loose definition of objectivity in journalism.
Lowery’s intentions to be fair also came into play when he spent time in Ferguson, Missouri. While in Ferguson Lowery personally experienced the harsh police brutality that is still going on in our country. He was there reporting on the riots, that had been going on due to racial issues and police brutality, when he was arrested and brought to a near by precinct along with other journalists.
Lowery would often talk to police officials and they would say there are no shootings, while also talking to the citizens who revealed there are way more shootings than the public knows about. Following this incident Lowery kept asking himself the same question: What are the statistics of these shootings?
There was none reported, so Lowery went on to discover the severity of this issue. Lowery wanted the ethical issue of under exposed police brutality to come to surface. “In recent years, the news media have relied heavily on the police brutality frame when covering violent interaction between police and African and Americans” (Fridkin, Wintersieck, Courey, 2017). The media has painted conflicted pictures of police brutality and Lowery wanted to give the public concrete facts.
Conclusion:
This most important message I learned from this is truth-telling. Journalism not only about the facts, but how they are presented. I also gained a new perspective on objectivity in journalism and that it is hard to fully remove one’s owns emotions and stance on issues. Lowery’s definition of objectivity is fairness and that opened a new viewpoint for me. Facts and objectivity are two important factors of journalism and I believe Lowery shows his ethical principles through his writing.
References:
Fridkin, K., Wintersieck, A., Courey, J., & Thompson, J. (2017). Race and Police Brutality: The Importance of Media Framing. International Journal Of Communication, 11, 21. Retrieved from http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/6950/2117
Muñoz-Torres, J. R. (2012). TRUTH AND OBJETICITY IN JOURNALISM. Journalism Studies, 13(3), 566-582. Doi:10.1090/14616770X.2012.662401