Pragmatic Objectivity for Global Ethics

This chapter attempts to improve our conception of objectivity in general, especially in journalism and other media work. It defends the twin theses that: (1) Global news media needs a new conception of objectivity and the conception of pragmatic objectivity is a viable candidate, and (2) pragmatic objectivity is part of a radical rethinking of journalism and media ethics. It is an alternative to the professional objective model, a still-influential traditional idea of the objective journalist as a neutral stenographer of fact. Journalists need to disrupt this model of good journalism. The chapter reconstructs objectivity as a natural evaluative capacity of humans that is situated and holistic. Then, it uses this naturalistic perspective to articulate pragmatic objectivity and apply it to journalism.