SPJ/LA Sponsors A Panel Discussion: "Is Objectivity Over?"
Actor Sean Penn’s recent Rolling Stone magazine account of his interview with a Mexican “drug lord” unabashedly included Penn’s opinions about the so-called “war on drugs” and the role American consumers play in the success of such growers and traffickers.
Whether or not Penn was claiming to be a journalist, there was little doubt that what he was doing – gathering and presenting information about a newsworthy figure for the audience of a national magazine – was a form of journalism.
And not the traditional “objective” journalism called for by the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, but an example of “advocacy” journalism, the practice of using a journalistic form to advance a point of view.
The article brought into focus a significant question facing professional journalists and their audiences today: Is objectivity over? Is it OK for print/online or broadcast reporters to expand their messages with commentary and unattributed opinion? Do the rules change when the topics are drug trafficking, domestic violence or political campaigns? Are readers intelligent enough to judge the content of such messages? Do opinions spoil the credibility of the reporters and their news organizations?
These are among the questions to be explored Thursday, March 3, 2016, at KPCC’s Crawford Family Forum, 474 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, CA 91105, by a panel convened by the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the 90-minute program will begin at 7 p.m. sharp in the auditorium that is part of the broadcast facilities of public radio station KPCC, 89.3 FM.
Panelists will be:
Pilar Marrero, senior political reporter, Impremedia
Robert Scheer, founder and editor of Truthdig
Karen Ocamb, news editor for Frontiers Magazine and FrontiersMedia.co
Marc Cooper, retired journalism professor for USC Annenberg School for Communications and a freelance writer and author.
The moderator will be: Stephanie Bluestein, Ed.D., a veteran reporter and assistant professor of journalism at California State University, Northridge.
The event is free and open for all. Street and lot parking will be available. Light refreshments will be served.
RSVP by sending an e-mail message to: spjlosangeles@gmail.com