A turning point for journalism may be on the horizon

I have often wrote about journalists and a lack of objectivity of the mainstream media. My main concerns are that many news outlets don’t provide readers with both sides of the story, especially when covering politics, and that they too often use anonymous sources.

That’s why I am excited that Bari Weiss, a former New York Times writer and founder of The Free Press, has just been named editor-in-chief of CBS News.

Weiss, in taking on this position, has said that she would be “fair, fearless and factual” and hold “both American political parties to equal scrutiny.”

In a memo to the staff at CBS News she wrote:

“What I can tell you on day one is that I stand for the same core journalistic values that have defined this profession since the beginning, and I will continue to champion them alongside you:

1. Journalism that reports on the world as it actually is.
2. Journalism that is fair, fearless, and factual.
3. Journalism that respects our audience enough to tell the truth plainly — wherever it leads.
4. Journalism that makes sense of a noisy, confusing world.
5. Journalism that explains things clearly, without pretension or jargon.
6. Journalism that holds both American political parties to equal scrutiny.
7. Journalism that embraces a wide spectrum of views and voices so that the audience can contend with the best arguments on all sides of a debate.
8. Journalism that rushes toward the most interesting and important stories, regardless of their unpopularity.
9. Journalism that uses all of the tools of the digital era.
10. Journalism that understands that the best way to serve America is to endeavor to present the public with the facts, first and foremost.”

Before writing this Editor’s Note, I visited The Free Press website and found that it was no means a mouthpiece for President Trump, which would be a red flag for anyone looking for a non-biased source of news.

There have been several stories in the media about the current staff of CBS News being afraid of what will happen to the news organization when Weiss takes over, but, of course, most of the sources for those stories are anonymous.

This is not going to be easy for Weiss, who is more familiar with writing and editing opinion pieces. She will have to figure out how to deal with breaking news and reporters that are used to writing negative articles about the current administration.

At this time, I am cautiously optimistic that I will have a trustworthy source of news and will be watching it closely.