Objectivity makes publications unreadable

Suspending judgment in organizational journalism is not only impossible, but it will wreck your prose

If you’re writing or editing a government publication, the biggest enemy you face is not the ignorance of the public, as stupid and impervious to reason as that public usually is. No, the main enemy remains, as it has always been, your own editorial modesty masquerading as “objectivity.” Your own objectivity can make your publication unreadable.

Government writers and editors are particularly liable to this kind of self-neutering, because all their habits borne of face-to-face dealing with the public tend to make them cautious, modest and self-effacing.

The first thing that happens when you are seduced by the impossible god-like ideal of complete impartiality: You bore the socks off everybody, including yourself. The second thing you do is offend the very opponents you’re trying to placate. The illicit posture of objectivity usually takes the form of “being respectful to differing viewpoints.”