The Two "-Isms": Activism and Journalism

Can activism and journalism co-exist?

This is something I wondered from the moment I entered the journalism field.  I've always wanted to be a journalist because I am fiercely opinionated, and I care deeply about social justice reform, feminism, government corruption and environmental issues (to name a few). I always expected that I would be able to work on stories that would support what I believed in.

Objectivity is a concept that I've always struggled with.  Hard and fast facts are what journalism is built on- their vitalness will never go away- but the idea of not supporting any causes I believed with my journalism has never sat right with me.

In the article "Journalism, Even When It's Tilted" by David Carr, Glenn Greenwald says, "All activists are not journalists, but real journalists are activists." I could not agree more with this statement. The real purpose of journalism is to create change.

"Articles that strive only to be in the middle- moving from one hand to the other in an effort to be nicely balanced- end up going nowhere," said Carr.

In this age of bloggers and activists and independent journalists, I think that transparency trumps objectivity. Being open and honest with your bias is vital, so the reader can form a well-rounded opinion from your work, but I don't think it is vital to remove those bias altogether.

In fact, I think an analysis of the news can make a story even stronger.