If American journalism were a religion, then its supreme deity would be "objectivity." Although it has remained the orbital sun of all journalistic ethics, objectivity, until now, has had no biographer. David Mindich here journeys back to the nineteenth century to recover the lost history and meaning of this central tenet of American journalism.

His book draws on a number of high profile cases that show the degree to which journalism and the evolving journalistic commitment to objectivity altered - and in some cases limited - the public's understanding of events and issues. Through this subtle combination of history and cultural criticism, Mindich provides a profound meditation on the structure, promise, and limits of objectivity in the age of cybermedia.