Development of the objectivity ethic in U.S. daily newspapers

Abstract

Objectivity is discussed as the underlying ethic of news reporting with an exploration of its origins. A content analysis of the general news reports in six selected U.S. daily newspapers found that objectivity was not widely practiced in 1865–1874, was common in 1905–1914, and normative by 1925–1984. Incidence of objective reporting was evidently not influenced by the introduction of the telegraph and wire services, and there is also no apparent difference between news reports of New York City newspapers and those of other cities.