Journalistic Professionalism and Objectivity in the Age of Digital Media: A Case Study of the United States

Abstract

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, we have been greatly impacted by the shift from the Internet to the mobile Internet for that the emergence of the mobile Internet indicates that the channels for audiences to receive information will become extensive and more pluralistic. Traditional media, such as newspapers and television, which had a high market share and viewership, are facing an unprecedented crisis. Today, the essence of many conflict crises in the world lies in the distortion of values caused by the bias of the truth in the process of communication. Therefore, this paper argues that in today’s noisy public opinion field and post-truth era, it is necessary to discuss the objectivity of news again for it is an important part of journalistic professionalism, and only a good grasp of the methods and concepts of objectivity can reduce the occurrence of conflicts to a certain extent. In the following, I will analyse the definition, cases and development history of objectivity in America by externalizing the philosophical concept into real cases, and explore the practical significance of the existence of journalistic objectivity in the digital media era.