Changing media leadership and its perceived impact on news objectivity

This study seeks to explore how media leadership has evolved in the United States and how leadership styles of media owners have impacted the perceived objectivity of news stories. Objectivity of news stories has been a major problem in the media industry in the U.S. and journalists are blamed often for lack of credibility of news stories. This study explores how select leaders have a major influence on journalists’ approaches to news, which ultimately influences news objectivity. This thesis employs a historical analysis approach using the four theories of the press as a framework to understand media leaders’ leadership styles. The analysis begins with the leadership styles of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, owners of traditional, 19th -Century newspapers, and concludes with an evaluation of the leadership styles of present-day tech giants, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, owners of Facebook and Twitter, respectively. Further, this study analyzes how yellow journalism has led to the present problem of fake news to attract readership in the new media and argues that media leaders have a major influence on how journalists approach news they cover.