Parting Shot

Why I Quit the Mainstream Media

The era of "objectivity" is over.

The slew of journalists fired for participating in Occupy Wall Street has instigated a hot debate between media critics about the ability of intelligent reporters to maintain a “view from nowhere.” At Salon, freelance reporter Natasha Lennard explains why she dumped the mainstream media after conservative sites seized on her appearance on an Occupy panel. “I have found too many problems with what does or does not get to be a fact to be part of such a machine.” The media’s standard of objectivity hampers effective reporting and crimps reporters’ personal lives.“If I—or any other journalist—want to express a strong opinion on a political matter, I cannot contemporaneously report for a mainstream publication.”