Abstract
Drawing on my trade experiences as a local journalist reporting on the Pashtun Belt—a war-torn Pak-Afghan borderland—this paper problematizes the concept of journalistic objectivity. Working for national and international media, local Pashtun reporters are the only source of connecting their war-torn ethnic community to the world. But reporting here poses a dilemma. Not only these journalists face threats from state and non-state actors, but adherence to objectivity also alienates them from their community. The paper argues that instrumental objectivity forces the local ethnic reporters to present news-data in a top-down fashion, and also hinders them from feeling the pain of their own community. Offering self-reflective approach as an alternative to conflict reporting, this paper gives primacy to occupational experience over technical rationality.

Syed Irfan Ashraf. (2020) An Alternative Theoretical Perspective To Understand The Perils Of Objectivity In Doing Journalism In The Conflict-hit Pashtun Belt, Pukhtunkhwa Journal, Volume-05, Issue-2.
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