Pragmatic Objectivity in Practice: Reading The Globe and Mail Columns of Christie Blatchford

Abstract

Pragmatic objectivity, the normative theory set forth in Stephen Ward’s The Invention of Journalism Ethics, argues that good journalism requires the “diligent application of fallible methods over time” (2004, p. 292). This article reads The Globe and Mail columns of Christie Blatchford as a practical example of pragmatic objectivity. Blending complex ethotic appeals with straightforward reportage, these columns constitute a kind of hybrid genre, which gives Blatchford scope to construct herself as reliable even as she concedes that reportorial objectivity in the traditional sense is impossible. Her writing on Canada’s mission in Afghanistan, however, is problematic. Aware that being embedded with the military risks undermining her rhetorical ethos, Blatchford nonetheless seems unable to turn the resources of the hybrid genre to her advantage.