Partisan Journalism: an Ethic for Community, Democracy, and Humanity

Abstract Existing Western standards for journalism tout ‘objectivity’ based solely on so-called expert sources: corporate public relations, politicians, government agencies. We know those have been repeatedly shown to be suspect as factual sources. Herman and Chomsky’s (1988) Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media offered a political economy-based Propaganda Model – identifying ownership, advertising, sources, PR and lobbying, and ideology as news filters. Partisan journalism opts for a philosophy of participation and advocacy. In brief, the political economy of a working-class partisan journalism depends on public ownership, community and worker control of production, dedicated to humanity, solidarity with social justice movements, and resistance to capitalism. This brief article provides several examples of partisan journalism and its practices.