If you are looking for information or for opinion, can you tell whether it is fairly objective? What do we mean by objectivity? Objectivity is representing real, objective truth despite your opinion. Being objective means "not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts," as stated in the Oxford English Dictionary. Objectivity can also include a lack of bias or influence from other individuals or groups, from whom a writer could receive compensation or other forms of approval for writing with a particular opinion or viewpoint. Definition retrieved from https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/objective.
Determine the purpose and goals of the author or organization responsible - Is it supposed to advertise a product, service, or opinion? Is it meant to educate or pursuade? Or is it meant to sensationalize or evoke an emotional response?
Determine the audience for this writing - Is this meant to serve a particular group? If so, how might that influence what or how the writer has written?
Determine if possible the background and/or affiliations of the author - How might this and other individuals or organizations influence what has been written?
A Little Reminder: When we talk about objectivity, we often look for bias. Bias in and of itself is not a bad thing. We all have our own biases. It's when bias gets in the way of someone's representing the facts that it becomes problematic.
Getting Something That's Objective: What to Look For Look for goals or any opinions expressed by the writer or a mission statement by an organization to determine potential purpose of the writing.
Look at the words being used. Are they meant to evoke an emotional response? Or are they speaking to an audience who is being asked to think?
Look at how detailed the information given is. Are there broad generalizations? Or more detailed facts provided? The more facts , fewer generalizations and vague statements, the more possibility of objectivity.
Scan through the article on cell phone radiation from the Environmental Working Group (EWG).
Then go to the site's "About Us" page and read what the EWG wants its readers to know about itself.
It's mission is "to empower people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment."
It further states, "We are a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment."
Their statements give us several points to consider: This is a non-partisan organization, so we can hope that there will not be a partisan bias. It is a non-profit, but does need donations. They are human and envionrmental health activisits, so they will potentially be looking for information, studies, and data in the areas of human and environmental health. They may also have a bias toward data that shows negative impacts of products, policies, and services on human and environmental health.
It's stated purpose is to promote human health through informing the public. It also appears to be to convince the target audience to help change public policy. Lastly, as it's email option at the end of the page notes, is also to add potential supports of the cause and donors to the organization.
The author of this page does a good job of providing concrete examples and studies from outside the organization and from apparently authoritative sources. .
It appears to be an article of information rather than sensationalism, although it does mean to evoke action on part of the consumers. The author is asking the reader not only to think, but to read beyond this web page the sources cited, and to act upon the information.
However, there is an emotional tone that we can feel here, for example, with the phrase "raising the alarm" or the phrase "bowing to industry lobbyists." It also reminds us that the purpose of this site is to elicit action from its readers. But that does not invalidate the content
While this site seems to be giving us some great information based on documented studies, we recommend utilizing the links provided in the article and going directly to those studies and using them to make sure that the information provided on this site is not cherry picking from those studies, but showing true transparency of all the data provided in those studies.
The good news is the site does link us to those studies for easy access, which may be an indicator of its transparency and potential objective use of the information. It appears to have done so in a reasonable, credible, and objective manner. But looking at the studies themselves is the only way to know if this is the case.
If you were going to do an in-depth look at the subject matter, we would also recommend looking at additional studies not cited by this organization to make sure the organization has not left out (a) any opposing viewpoints or (b) any more in-depth knowledge about ths subject matter that might be as important but perhaps not as alaming.