John Reed, Edgar Snow, Herbert Matthews: The Journalist Engagé and the Question of Objectivity in American Journalism

John Reed, Edgar Snow, and Herbert Matthews’s front-line reporting of the Russian, Chinese and Cuban Revolutions proved to be enormously consequential. All three journalists have been criticized for their supposedly biased and partisan accounts. But while aware of their own political sympathies, and dismissive of the idea of the neutral, emotionally detached reporter, Reed, Snow, and Matthews had a deep and abiding commitment to getting the story “right.” This article frames Reed, Snow, and Matthews as exemplars of the journalist engagé – a reporter who identifies emotionally with the story while retaining a commitment to accuracy. As such, these three reporters stand outside of—and pose a significant challenge to—the traditional “rise and fall” narrative that has typically framed the story of American journalism’s relationship with objectivity during the twentieth century.