Journalists are Biased - They are Human Too

A new movement within the media among independent outlets is pushing for more personal storytelling in journalism. They believe it is more effective as it allows human impact to be the story’s angle as opposed to being devoid of empathy.  

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Journalism is an avenue to inform democratic function. As the fourth estate, journalists work to uncover and communicate intel of world issues, pushing them into the public sphere. Within the industry, there are many individual perspectives and powers at play. Yet objectivity has reigned as the rule journalists must follow since the 1880s rejecting the integration of personal experiences that are not verifiable as fact. 

But, Crystal Andrews, founder of independent outlet Zeefeed, rebuts the possibility of objectivism.

“Every journalist is a human being, we have bias, we see things through a certain lens,” she says. Instead, Zeefeed focuses on journalism that relies on personal experience through a feminist lens, which within the scope of objectivity is seen as biased.  

Andrews describes the job of journalism as “ to scrutinise and to apply that scrutiny to whoever has power.” The personal experiences of a writer will direct them to the lens the story is written from, but independent media does not view this as impairing the ability to scrutinise. The political ideology of the writer does not impact the quality of journalism.

Varsha Yajman, a paralegal and news consumer praises this approach , saying she looks for news that is “transparent” regarding bias, but “bias isn’t the focal point”. 

Her  work is focused on responding to the reporting of other outlets and politics, which is predominantly done on her social media accounts.

Social media has become the leading avenue for young people to receive news. In 2024, Canberra University reported that 60% of teenagers use social media as their primary news source, 17% higher than 2023. 

Social media has increased the ability of news to reach young people but there is still danger in this reliance on complicated algorithms to dictate whether content is pushed out to a wider audience. 

Misinformation and extreme bias is often proliferated online; a study conducted by MIT revealed that on twitter/X misinformation and false news is retweeted 70% more than real news. This is sometimes attributed to a lack of media literacy in the general population with the University of Canberra reporting 24% of Australians have received any form of media literacy education. 

With the growing popularity of social media news amongst the younger generation, Andrews recognises that “in media you have to meet people where they are”. This means creating social media-based reporting, which many legacy outlets now do. 

On social media due to the large quantity of fabricated content it is important to self-check whether content is backed by evidence. “Journalists should work very hard to be self-aware of what their biases are,” said Andrews. Yet she also believes “the onus is on news consumers” and that “we have to read widely”. Working with bias requires critical thinking from writers and readers alike.

Yajman integrates personal experience into her news analysis to “switch the narrative and say, no, this is actually really important to you”, creating a point of connection between her own experiences and her audience. 

She strives to build an avenue for young people to reconnect with political issues around the world. 

Yajman recognises that “writing is such a political act at this point”. 

She integrates her own political beliefs with the understanding that her work is coming from a place of bias. However,  her bias is an “important part of the work” as she reports with the need to share how governmental policy is impacting her communities. 

For Yajman and the many others who make up the new media online, personal perspective is integral to work, but not in a way that impacts the reliability of their reporting. 

Their experiences are foundational to the work they do.

Choosing personal impact over objectivity is a matter of reporting from a variety of perspectives, rather than only recognising one lens of viewing an event.

 Phoebe Saintilan founder of Missing Perspectives believes that “fairness, rigour and truth are essential”, yet they believe those ideas are not exclusive to objectivity. 

The ability of journalism to act as the fourth estate is reliant on personal lived experience. In doing so, journalism connects with an audience growing tired of traditional media.