Nine: Librarians, Journalists, and Professional Neutrality Norms

Librarians and journalists are both reckoning with norms of professional neutrality.

The journalists that make up News Futures community of practice are working to address what they see as their profession’s harmful attachment to an idea of “objectivity” or “professional neutrality” which ultimately upholds status quo power and knowledge regimes.

Though librarians have long been reckoning with this same attachment to neutrality, journalists see librarians as professionals who can very clearly articulate their goal of advancing the public good.

Partnering could be a way of centering positive social change as a goal of both professions.

“I always feel like librarians are so far out ahead of journalists in this regard that I’m like, ‘Oh, you guys are radical compared to the journalism field.’ Most public librarians have a baseline understanding that they should help people. And that’s not the case in journalism.”

– kate (k.e.) harloe

“Journalists can have such a poor opinion of public engagement, generally speaking. They often underestimate what people are willing to do, what they care about, and what they can create together, especially when you root it in connection and conversation, which can be hard to find in any sort of structured or invited way.”

– Terry Parris Jr.