|
Reader question: Please explain “golden rule” as in: “Objectivity is a golden rule of journalism.” Is “golden rule” a fixed phrase? My comments: Gold being a most precious metal, anything golden is by extension something highly valued and to be treasured. We talk about, for example, a golden boy, a golden sunset, a golden opportunity, so on and so forth. A golden rule, then, is such a valuable principle (rule) that you at no time want to violate it. In our example, you can paraphrase the above sentence as follows: Objectivity in journalism is a cardinal principle, a most important value. As a practicing journalist, I want to add my two pence to this topic by emphasizing that this is exactly so. Without being objective, anything any hack writes is either outright propaganda or advertisement or whatever you may call it. Another point for me to readily add is that a lot of journalists cannot even agree on what being objective is about. That is understandable, because one person’s idea of being objective will be regarded as nothing but being subjective (and peculiar) in the eyes of another, given their different politics and world view. I mean, we cannot avoid being subjective entirely, can we? Because of this, people nowadays often talk about fairness while discussing the subject. By fairness, they mean to say a reporter should not give one-sided views. If, for example, you’re writing a story in which one man accuses another of something, you should talk to the other person and get his or her reaction or response before publishing the story. | 
