Objectivity as Independence

Abstract

After its founding in the United States in 1989, the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) grew rapidly, despite self-imposed limits put in place to protect what members believed to be an important journalistic virtue—independence of vested interests. SEJ's stand on this issue raised numerous conflicts within the organization. In working out the conflicts, SEJ contributed to a clearer definition of the practice of environmental journalism in the United States in a time of rapid change in the field. Its experience demonstrated the continuing, although limited, utility of journalistic objectivity as a standard around which practitioners could organize themselves.