The Dean of Columbia Journalism School, Jelani Cobb, demonstrates in an interview for the Columbia magazine (Spring/Summer 2024 issue) just how out of touch he is â€" and by extension the school â€" to actual journalism. There is a reason the "Ivy League" is increasingly referred to as the "Poison Ivy League."
The Dean is asked whether journalism still shapes voters. Pretty softball. Of course, the answer is "yes," but he frames the problem as journalists competing with "information sources all over the spectrum." True, some are unreliable and not vetted, but the same "unreliable and not vetted" can and should be placed on the "mainstream media." In 2016, one study showed that 92% of the mainstream news about Trump was negative. Was that vetted? If so, how and by what measure?
We can all agree that disinformation is a threat to our democracy, but we don't all agree on the details. A three-year bombardment of a "Trump-Russia" collusion that turned out to be a "Trump-Russia Hoax" fueled by a "Deep State â€" Democrat Party â€" Mainstream Media" collusion might give a Journalism Dean a little pause. Those "unvetted information sources" turned out to be more accurate than all those vetted mainstream sources.
Apologize? Not in any meaningful way.
So, how does the dean address the lack of trust in the mainstream media? He references "a couple of dynamics, one of which is the decline of local news." Umm. Somebody needs a refresher on "Journalism 101" and perhaps "Ethics 101." No one distrusts the mainstream national news because of missing high school basketball stories or a review of a locally produced musical.
The dean addresses the Covid pandemic. According to him, 100 million people don't have access to a primary-care physician. Without a local connection to the medical community, we lack trust in the media. Or maybe it's that too many of us DID have a local physician. We trusted our local doctor and that doctor trusted the CDC and the mainstream media not only trusted the CDC, but they killed any story that veered from the approved narrative. The real long-term implications are that no one is going to trust anyone who trusts the "mainstream media." When the conspiracies continue to prove true, the mainstream media gets hurt.
Boys take chemicals to become girls and should be allowed to compete against actual girls. Nope. There is no proof of election irregularities in 2020. Liar, liar. Pants on fire.
The media can acknowledge someone's desire to present atypically without destroying girls' sports. The media can acknowledge that there were many unconventional occurrences in the 2020 election without saying definitively that Trump won. But when the media won't tell the truth the public seeks it's news elsewhere.
The Dean has a solution to the "conflict of interest" that pervades the media landscape. You'll never guess!
How about "nonprofit newspapers" and "public media." Just recently, a long-term NPR (National Public Radio) personality, Uri Berliner, was forced out for daring to state the obvious. NPR has tilted too far to the left. Because the Dean misunderstands economics, he doesn't realize that companies that provide value turn profits. Companies that don't go out of business. Too bad Columbia's School of Journalism didn't work on profit. It might be forced to provide some value… starting with a new Dean.
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