Every headline has a backstory
The Objective examines power and inequity in journalism—and how to make the field better. Join journalists, editors, newsroom leaders, and students questioning whose voices are heard and whose stories get told.
Your weekly recap of the stories behind news headlines
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WHY WE EXIST
Independent reader-supported nonprofit since
2020
Major American newsrooms have called themselves objective for generations.
But their coverage has always been defined by homogeneous teams that fail to account for race, gender, class, disability, and sexuality. Despite holding up objectivity as journalism’s gold standard, major U.S. newsrooms have never consistently lived up to their promised ideals of fairness and impartiality.
Explore our work by lens
Race
How newsrooms cover race, serve multiracial communities, and address inequity in hiring and retention.
Indigenous Sovereignty & Media
How journalism represents Native nations, Indigenous sovereignty, and Indigenous perspectives.
Gender & Sexuality
How newsrooms cover gender and sexuality and treat journalists of marginalized genders and sexualities.
International Context
How U.S. perspectives, migration, and global power shape newsroom priorities.
Mass Incarceration & Policing
How journalism covers the criminal legal system and those most affected by it.
Disability
How ableism shapes coverage and newsroom practice, and how journalism can center disabled people’s self-determination.
Read more about why we frame our coverage this way >
A column by
Lewis Raven Wallace
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