Tools for Objectivity

Lippman compares the role of a journalist to be, in many cases, like the role of a baseball umpire who must call a game that is played with no rules, positions, or scores. Lippman wrote this is an essay that was written in 1922 however. While I still believe much of what he writes about the imposibility of complete objectivity in journalism is true, there seem to be more tools today that allow a reporter to call a fairer game, so to speak.
First, the accuracy of surveys, which usually have a plus-minus error of no more than a few percentage points, is a great way to accurately guage public opinion. Also, Lippman used the example of a workers strike to show how a reporter must decide whether or not the workers in a strike operate in sub-par conditions or if they are being unreasonable. Today, unlike, I'm sure, in 1922, there are definite standards for these types of situations defined by the government and unions. A third reason journalism is somewhat more objective today is simply the wider array of perspectives involved in making the news. Lippman stated that "a relatively few number of men," determined the news. Today, with the advent of the internet, women and minorities in journalism, more people weigh in on what he read and see. Even Joe Schmoe with a blog can put in his two cents on the World Wide Web.