For me, the real danger is in assuming there is an objective viewpoint behind these fundamentally subjective editorial decisions, or even that such a viewpoint is a type of unattainable goal that is still worth striving for.
by James Corbett
The International Forecaster
Of the many under-appreciated gems in The Corbett Report archive, my podcast episode on “The Myth of Journalistic Objectivity” may be one of the most important. Not only does it expose a few of the many examples of bias in the mainstream media (from Bilderberger Charlie Rose to World Federalist Walter Cronkite to CIA Anderson Cooper), it also lays out in detail why the idea that journalism can ever be “objective” at all is not just a pipe dream, but a dangerous delusion.
[…] Following on from that expose, I was recently contacted by John Wielenga about a research project on ‘Mainstream Media Bias and Propaganda’ that he is conducting for a class that he is enrolled in. The Q&A that he conducted with me for that class is instructive about the ways that the media can shape and distort our view of reality, and why subjectivity in journalism is unavoidable, why it should be embraced, and how the onus is on each of us to temper our own biases by avoiding the online echo chamber. To that end, I present that Q&A here in its entirety.
JOHN WIELENGA: You are an independent journalist with your own website and many videos on YouTube that cover a broad array of subjects. How long have you been a journalist? Why is it that you chose to become an independent journalist? What are some of the benefits and detriments?