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In a sea of unanswered questions, the wave of journalism is moving rapidly. In the political landscape’s current fight for intellectual foreclosure, The View From Somewhere: Undoing the Myth of Objectivity envisions a world where truth matters “even when it is multifaceted, prismatic, and strange.” In his 2019 book, Lewis Raven Wallace uses resistance to foster imagination and the skill of living with questions.

Wallace is an award-winning journalist, writer, and public speaker acclaimed for opposing conformist journalistic practices and the falsehood behind the notion of journalistic neutrality. His work has contributed to crucial conversations around media ethics and the meaningful role of identity in the newsroom.

Throughout his career, Wallace has worked as a reporter and editor for prominent publications like The Guardian, The Atlantic, and NPR. After advocating for a new form of journalism focused on truth and inclusivity, Wallace was suspended and later fired by Marketplace for publishing a blog post he believed violated vague ethical guidelines. His termination from the radio program ultimately inspired him to write The View From Somewhere.

Beyond his written works, Wallace has been a strong advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion within the media industry. He is recognized for testing boundaries in journalism, particularly in amplifying marginalized voices and advocating for more inclusive narratives.

“Being an advocate doesn’t mean abandoning fairness—it means choosing to be fair to the most vulnerable,” Wallace writes. 

In his book, Wallace critiques the concept of journalistic objectivity, while tracing its origins in early newspapers’ advertising model and its adoption in the 1920s and ‘30s, where it was rapidly used to undermine labor organizers and disrupt authentic professional journalism. 

As an industry standard, objectivity has become a modern expectation for journalists. Numerous journalists describe this practice as impartiality, and Wallace respectfully negates this notion in his writing. To contradict traditional journalism practices of objectivity, Wallace highlights the ironic pretense that journalism, as a field, is an impartial and unbiased practice.

Wallace explores throughout his book how journalists’ identities may positively influence their work and the stories they tell. He advocates for a more transparent and authentic approach to journalism that recognizes representation and perspective as valuable tools. 

In his chapter titled The Power of Perspective, Wallace argues that true journalistic objectivity comes not from detachment from personal identity, but recognizing and accepting it. He suggests that transparent, nuanced journalism thrives when reporters incorporate their affiliations and the aspects of their identity that shape their perspectives and storytelling capabilities. 

 “All journalism is perspective, and that’s not a bad thing. The question is whose perspective is being shared,” Wallace writes. 

In an interview with Paris Schutz on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, Wallace discusses the misconceptions surrounding objectivity in reporting on marginalized groups. He specifically negates the idea that journalists have historically covered the transgender community with balance, referring to his personal experiences. He uses this platform to highlight the efforts of activists and social change advocates to humanize news coverage of transgender individuals.

In a recent op-ed published by the nonprofit news organization Truthout, Wallace highlights the hypocrisy of institutional objectivity and its underlying bias, specifically at high-profile universities. In the recent suspension of Wallace’s friend, Steven Thrasher at Northwestern University, Wallace interprets the University’s decision to restrict open opposition of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. 

The suppression of these viewpoints is a commonality in western media and is further representative of the counterintuitive nature of objective journalism. Ultimately, in Wallace’s mentioning of the sphere of legitimate controversy, suppression of differing perspectives is a common theme that is a historically dominating issue. 

As exemplified in Columbia Journalism Review’s piece, titled What Do Black Journalists Want? Dorothy Gilliam demonstrates the inequity of positive news coverage of the black community and lack of black journalists in the newsroom. As Gilliam notes, black individuals have historically felt that news coverage inadequately addresses race relations and fails to transparently convey the “degradation, misery, and hopelessness of life in the ghetto.”

Even though Wallace’s book thoroughly dismantles the idea that impartial objectivity is essential to journalism, it is written solely from his perspective. By not considering the experiences of other communities and their limitations in journalistic coverage, Wallace limits the broader relevance of his work to other marginalized groups.

While Wallace’s exploration of his experience as a transgender journalist and the history of objectivity provides valuable context, more could be done in future works to ensure broader representation of diverse communities.