Infusing objectivity with passion

And in the worse cases, when there is a journalist who hates what he or she covers, well, those results are pretty obvious as well, and not something that any media outlet needs.

However, many journalists also pride themselves on being somewhat cynical and worldly. If you start talking about love and passion as necessary components to their jobs, you're likely to get guffaws and off-color jokes. It doesn't mean they aren't bringing love and passion to their job, simply that they're uncomfortable with that sort of vocabulary.

The flip side of this is that as a freelancer, there's no way I would be a theater critic if I didn't have a love and passion for my community and for theater. I'm certainly not doing it for the money. My newspaper freelancing pays only a fraction of what my other freelance work does--and is far more demanding of my time and energy. I'm fairly certain other freelancers would say the same.

I would also argue that it is the passion and love that an arts journalist has for the arts that create a strong desire for fairness in coverage. Being in love doesn't make them less objective, it makes them more committed.