In a letter to the editor, Astrid Coste explores struggles with journalists’ personal identities. Credit: Lucy Lawler | Managing Editor for Content
Astrid Coste is a fourth-year in journalism at Ohio State. Coste previously reported for The Lantern, though she has not contributed to the publication’s coverage since March 2024.
My fellow journalists within the Lantern newsroom, I hope that I am not the only one bringing up this question within our field: Do we have the ability to express our own personal morals and values through the forms of protests and advocacy while maintaining our jobs?
From the moment I stepped into the Journalism Building, the main word in every single classroom presentation has been “objectivity.” We journalists have a responsibility to be objective in the presence of breaking news.
What does that entail exactly? Objectivity means ensuring our writing remains unbiased, grounded in cited evidence that accurately represents both sides of whatever situation we plan to cover.
However, what happens when that situation is an attack on your identity and personal values?
I’m a proud immigrant to this country. Yes, I came here when I was very young, but my family persisted in raising me in a household where I retained my cultural roots as a Dominican and maintained the Spanish language.
I also identify as a woman and someone who is exploring their sexuality within queer spaces. It currently feels like my rights are being ripped away from my identity and I’m being branded with the message that I don’t have the right to exist. Can I continue to be a journalist, even if I don’t feel safe when I step out of a newsroom?
Does it sound like an existential crisis? Yes, it does. But I believe this is a conversation that needs to be made public within our journalism spaces, especially for reporters with minority identities.
The Lantern plays a crucial role for anyone who wants to study journalism or any form of communication at this university. I am writing this as a way to let others know they are not alone in this mental debate. My purpose is to bring awareness to a struggle I still have trouble mastering, and I believe those within the newsroom have struggled with this as well.
I hope that through thoughtful communication within this newsroom, we can create a solution — if not just a conversation — about how this next generation can become a group of well-rounded journalists with self-respect and the ability to be unapologetically themselves when it comes to their own purposes and moral values.
Sincerely,
Astrid
