Integrity and personality over "objectivity"
There is an extraordinary amount of anger and skepticism directed at the news media in this moment, CNN in particular. Whenever I say something on Twitter about working here, no matter how benign, I’m guaranteed to get some negativity. Comments most commonly take this subtler form, though:

To this person, CNN may be suspect, but I, personally, am still worthy of respect. Through Beme or Twitter or these emails, they have developed a respectful relationship with me, one so strong that an association with an institution the president calls “fake news” doesn’t shake their belief in my earnestness, or make them stop listening to me.
Last week I spent a day down in Atlanta, CNN’s global headquarters. What strikes me as I get to know more and more CNNers is how much getting the facts straight is a personal mission as much as it is a job. The correspondents and editors and producers and executives are honest people, personally obsessed with accurately informing the public.
Yet, for many outside, no profession is more suspect. I can’t help but wonder if this disconnect is caused by journalism itself: by a mid-century newspaperman’s concept of objectivity, where the personal is subsumed by the institutional. Authority here stems not from me, as a dynamic human with integrity, showing you the facts and how I got them, but instead simply from this abstract thing called Journalism. Untethered objectivity seems like a weak argument in our social media era, and a trap I want to make sure our new company (still no name, sorry—more about that next week) doesn’t fall into.
We’ve chosen to tackle news, because it feels the most urgent and necessary thing we could do with our talents. But by choosing news at this moment, I have the ominous sense that we are not picking an area of focus so much as a theater of battle. I’m certain we’ll be accused of collaborating with the current administration as much as we’ll be accused of being dedicated Marxists.
I’m increasingly convinced that if we put more of ourselves out there, are more honest about our perspectives, and most importantly grow our platform to be a magnet for real perspectives beyond the typically journalistic, and far outside the liberal urban ones that currently dominate our team, we can succeed. Products like Exit Poll hint at the path.
What we have to do is not strike the illusory “center,” but illuminate the truth. We no longer live in an environment where this can be done by journalists pretending they are fact-dispensing robots, because we know from their social media accounts that they are real humans with opinions.
There are going to have to be some firm rules to make this work. Fact and opinion will have to be separated. Personalities can’t be permitted to override truth. In the all-video, all-social realm our company will play in, we’re going to have to invent the rules ourselves.
Getting this right will be a brutal challenge. I hope you’ll keep those lovingly critical tweets coming to tell me how we do.
Links
The news media loves nothing more than to talk to and about itself. This week there were some especially trenchant discussions about whether objectivity makes any damn sense these days.
The Ties That Bind - On The Media
Leaks from a chaotic White House, reconsidering journalistic objectivity, and the failed promise of the Internet.
Why Nobody Cares the President Is Lying
A conservative talk radio host on false information, the erosion of media, and the way forward.
Michael Wolff v. Brian Stelter
Are some journalists being hysterical and losing their bearings? Don’t agree with the extremes either Wolff or Stelter take, but a sharp debate.
By Matt Hackett
I'm an entrepreneur and engineer, currently in exploration mode. Subscribe to follow along.
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