(CZ) Objektivita v mediích mediálně pedagogický pohled
(EN) Objectivity in the Media. A media education perspective

The mass media have a major influence on the character of the educational-socialisation process in modern society. The media contents to which the public is exposed, however, are subject to the specific principles and methods of journalistic treatment of reality. Educational research on the effects of the media on the educational socialisation process must therefore start from an analysis of these principles and their consequences for the individual and collective understanding of the reality around us. The article looks at the properties and effects of journalistic objectivity, which it sees as the main consti-tutive principle of professional journalism, in the context of social communication, education and socialisation. In opposition to the generally shared notion of journalistic objectivity as a means for the non-partisan observation of social phenomena, the author argues the function of objectivity is being transformed into an instrument of political control of the content of public communi-cation. In his view the application of the principle of objectivity in current journalism is leadingto the presentation of the phenom-ena described in isolation from their natural context, oversimplification, orientation to trivial themes and a practical absence of critical thinking in media discourse. This mode of presentation of reality enables the holders of symbolic power to manipulate facts, distract attention from important social themes and push through their own agendas in violation of the principles of democratic political discussion, while it is instilled in the public that it is the only relevant way of understanding and interpreting the world. In this sense the media forms an autonomous educational socialisation system but one that often operates in a way contrary to the universal educational goals formulated by educational thought and social demand. The author therefore sees the new task facing educational thought as that of developing media education as a discipline focused on research into the educational aspects of the functioning of the media in modern society - research that will bring us a deeper understanding of the character of education and socialisation by the media, and one that will be essential for eliminating its negative consequences.