The newspaper must provide for the reader the facts, pure, unprejudiced, objectively selected facts. But in these days of complex news it must provide more; it must supply interpretation, the meaning of the facts. This is the most important assignment confronting American journalism—to make clear to the reader the problems of the day, to make international news understandable as community news, to recognize that there is no longer any such thing (with the possible exception of society news) as “local” news, because any event in the international area has local reaction in the financial market, political circles, in terms, indeed, of our very way of life.
There is in journalism a widespread view that when you consider giving an interpretation, you are entering dangerous waters, the swirling tides of opinion. This is nonsense.
The opponents of interpretation insist that the writer and the editor shall confine himself to the “facts”. This insistence raises two questions. What are the facts? And: Are the bare facts enough?
As for the first question, consider how a so-called “factual” story comes about. The reporter collects, say, fifty facts; out these fifty, his space being necessarily restricted, he selects the ten which he considers most important. This is judgment Number One. Then he or his editor decides which of these ten facts shall constitute the beginning of the article. (This is an important decision because many readers do not proceed beyond the first paragraph.) This is Judgment Number Two. Then the night editor determines whether the article shall be presented on page one, where it has a large influence, or on page twenty-four, where it has little. Judgment Number Three.
Thus in the presentation of a so-called “factual” or “objective” story, at least three judgments are involved. And they are judgments not at all unlike those involved in interpretation, in which. reporter and editor, calling upon their research resources, their general background, and their “news neutralism”, arrive at a conclusion as to line significance of the news.
The two areas of judgment, presentation of the news and its interpretation, are both objective rather than subjective processes—as objective, that is, as any human being can be. (Note in passing: even though complete objectivity can never be achieved, nevertheless the ideal must always be the light in the murky news channels.) If an editor is intent on giving a prejudiced view of the news, he can do it in other ways and more effectively than by interpretation. He can do it by the selection of those facts that support his particular viewpoint. Or he can do it by line play he gives a story—promoting it to page one or putting it on page thirty.
The best title for this passage is _____.
A.Function of the Night Editor
B.Interpreting the News
C.Subjective versus Objective Processes
D.Choosing Facts