Objective journalism and Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism

This dissertation critically examines the main competing ideas of objectivity in journalism in recent years--that it's an illusion best dispensed with in favor of activism, that it's an unattainable ideal for which to strive anyway, or that it's a method aimed at consensus as a "strategic ritual" to avoid criticism. It then identifies these positions' common root conviction that "real" objectivity is impossible and takes issue with that assumption.;It shows that the arguments made against the possibility of objectivity in journalism explicitly or implicitly restate one or more of the three theses of the Greek sophist Gorgias that there is no world out there; that if there were, we couldn't know it; and if we could, we couldn't talk about it. This dissertation argues that just as Aristotle provided answers to these ideas thousands of years ago, so has Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism provided answers for their modern variations and derivatives.;It provides a summary of Objectivist metaphysics and epistemology as presented originally by Rand and developed by Nathaniel Branden, Leonard Peikoff and David Kelley, then tries to show how these positions, supplemented at times by non-Objectivist thinkers, serve as a good base to answer the modern Gorgiases who dispute the possibility of objectivity not only in journalism but also in the hard sciences, the social sciences and history.;The dissertation further presents a bestiary of frequent specific objections to objective journalism in its various meanings and critically assesses their merits, offering along the way a discussion of some of the major arguments presented on the subject by Objectivist thinkers like Peter and Jerry Schwartz. It then tries to put these ideas together in a list of how Objectivists might view specific journalistic practices.;Finally, the dissertation looks to Branden's application of Objectivism to psychology for help to journalism by analogy, compares the ideas presented here to those of journalism's pre-eminent libertarian philosopher, John C. Merrill; and shows how Objectivism's positions on politics, ethics and aesthetics could easily provide inspiration to expand the ideas here into a full-blown philosophy of journalism.