In an article on the online magazine The Hoot, Mayank Chhaya writes:

This may not be a trend yet but journalism schools around the world, if there are still any left, should introduce a specific course in shoe throwing. These journalism schools will have to invest in shoes of all varieties and develop a precise science based on their weight, shape and material. Trajectories will have to be studied based on the distance between the shoe-throwing journalist and his or her target. There is a whole science of aerodynamics waiting to be tapped on what material to be used in shoes so that they do the job efficiently. Schools will need NASA engineers who are able to calculate to the last inch where a probe would land.

Seriously though, what’s with all the journalistic shoe throwing? Chhaya sees it as an extreme form of editorializing.

The whole issue of journalists as activists comes up fairly often in my life. While I will never participate in any protests or sign allegiance to any party out of principle, I have several friends who don’t have that luxury. Some have escaped from repressive regimes, have fought for their lives, been imprisoned and tortured. They were activists first and became journalists later. I suspect they wouldn’t mind throwing a shoe or two of their own.

But their work often does end up in opinion pages and in the first-person. It does, they admit, limit the potential of their work as journalists. There is a clear bias.

I don’t believe in the so-called “objective reporting.” There’s always an inherent bias, no matter how hard a reporter may try to get rid of it. And you choose that bias as soon as you try to come up with an angle for a story.

But there’s a difference between having a bias, being aware of it so that you can make sure to provide an alternative viewpoint, and throwing a shoe at a politician you don’t like or agree with.

That’s when you’ve definitely crossed over from journalism into activism.

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P.S. Even bloggers need a rest. I’ll only be blogging Monday to Friday from now on. (I know today is Saturday. From next week, I mean.)