The heyday of “objective” journalism was short-lived—Civil Rights, the women’s movement, and the war in Vietnam all chipped away at it. Lewis Raven Wallace meets two rabble-rousing women reporters who engaged with Vietnam in very different ways, Laura Palmer and Kerry Gruson. Both walked away with the conclusion that serving the truth is full of gray areas.

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Whose voices and stories have been lost because they were pushed out of journalism altogether? Marvel Cooke was a groundbreaking Black woman journalist who reported on labor in the 1940s and organized a union with the Newspaper Guild in the 1930s, is one of countless storytellers nearly forgotten by history because they were too radical. Lewis Raven Wallace talks to playwright Jacqueline Lawton and editor Carla Murphy about their experiences as Black women rediscovering Cooke’s story.

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Queer and trans journalist Lewis Raven Wallace is on a mission to find other reporters like him, who were fired or persecuted for advocating for their communities. He finds Sandy Nelson, a former Tacoma News-Tribune reporter who waged a seven-year battle for her rights as a worker, and a lesbian, socialist journalist. He also learns about the first reporter to ever be fired for not being “objective,” back in the 1930s. 

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New York Times Magazine reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones argues that all journalism is a form of activism. Host Lewis Raven Wallace talks to Hannah-Jones, plus historians David Mindich and Mia Bay, about the enduring influence of Ida B. Wells and the early Black press, who uncovered stories about lynching the white press was unwilling to tell. They explore how early “objective” news failed in its coverage of lynching, and how “objectivity” can fall short in coverage of racial violence now.

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Before 2014, police killings of unarmed Black people weren’t a huge news story. Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery, Ferguson activist Johnetta Elzie, and host Lewis Raven Wallace look at how media reacted after police killed Michael Brown in 2014, and how #BlackLivesMatter changed the news. Wallace and Lowery reflect on how “objective” outlets failed to cover Black death at the hands of police until activists forced their hand. 

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“Objectivity is dead, and I’m okay with it.” That’s what public radio journalist Lewis Raven Wallace wrote in a blog post just after Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration. Wallace called on other journalists to stand up to Trump’s racism and transphobia. His employer, Marketplace, fired him for this post—on this episode, he talks to producer Ramona Martinez and journalism historian David Mindich about what he’s learned since. 

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Introducing The View from Somewhere! All journalists have a view from somewhere, and ”objective” journalism often upholds status quo thinking and reinforces racism, sexism, and transphobia. This show tells the stories of journalists who have resisted “objectivity” and stood up for justice, and envisions new approaches to truth and integrity in journalism. 

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