Lauren Wolfe, the former freelance editor who was fired by The New York Times over a pro-Biden tweet, defended her open political stance in a recent op-ed titled, “I’m a Biased Journalist and I’m Okay With That.”
Wolfe was ousted by the Times after she celebrated the arrival of then-President-elect Joe Biden at Joint Base Andrews ahead of his inauguration, writing “I have chills.”
Published on Friday in Washington Monthly, Wolfe argued that “being fair and having [a] point of view aren’t incompatible” and that journalists “shouldn’t have to disguise or suppress their views.”
“Ever since I was fired from The New York Times at the end of January, no matter what I publish or say about journalism online, angry people come out of their hidey-holes to yell at me. They say that I’m biased … that journalists are all crooked, and that I’m a perfect example of why no one can believe anything we in the media say,” Wolfe began her piece, which was originally written on her Substack. “So, I’d like to talk a little about this idea of bias—and its implied opposite, objectivity—in journalism. They are inextricably linked.”
Wolfe argued being an objective journalist is not being “you” because political biases must remain “hidden,” but also insisted “that doesn’t mean our implicit bias isn’t guiding our choice of sources, or even what stories we decide to cover.”
“I’ve always believed it is better to be open about my views on the issues I cover, which for a long time have been war and international human rights. And yes, I often do write with an agenda—with an eye toward creating change,” Wolfe wrote. “So yes, I am biased, and consciously so when it comes to certain subjects—especially when I’m reporting on criminality. But I don’t see that as a bad thing.”- READ MORE
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