Blackwell Reference Online

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News standards connote normative qualities, such as accuracy and decency (→  Ethics in Journalism ), but the term specifically means the way information is gathered, made into news reports, and presented ( Dicken-Garcia 1989 ). For example , objectivity encompasses six standards: verified facts, fairness, non-bias, independence, non-interpretation, and neutrality ( Ward 2004 ). Journalists develop standards to gain credibility in society, and standards change across space and time. For example, US news standards changed as the press shifted from partisan (→  Partisan Press ) to event-centered to commercial during nineteenth-century industrialization. Accuracy and balance, of little concern to partisan journalists, became more important with the shift from producer to consumer society (→  Professionalization of Journalism ). Western hegemony spread news standards, which developed with the rise of capitalism and the middle class ( Smith 1978, 1979 ). The need to sell news profitably required qualities the public would buy, and investments shaped standards as ties to political parties weakened. Around 1900, western journalism also became more about structuring than recording reality, resulting in image politics and an emphasis on objectivity (→  Objectivity in Reporting ). Whether the press serves primarily the government or the public affects standards. History shows more concern ... log in or subscribe to read full text