This weekend, the co-editor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school newspaper was on CNN’s Reliable Sources, where a conversation about media objectivity broke out:
"Journalism is a form of activism," says Rebecca Schneid, co-editor in chief of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School newspaper https://t.co/oYDZGyzlTq
— Reliable Sources (@ReliableSources) March 25, 2018
Job offers from certain MSM outlets might already be rolling in, but for many that claim speaks volumes:
I thought journalism was all about Who What, When, Where and How.
— Sen. John Blutarsky (T) (@Mongotrucker) March 25, 2018
So wait, CNN agrees with this? Makes perfect sense when you consider that all of CNN's programming is at the bottom of the ratings. Only the few activists are watching.
— Sonoran Conservative (@SonoranConserv) March 25, 2018
And that's why journalism is dead https://t.co/s8VtYvSJkK
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) March 25, 2018
I can understand why she believes this if she's been watching cable news over the last month with the assumption that what they were doing was actually journalism…. https://t.co/r7umgoRRXA
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) March 25, 2018
In fairness to her, if you grow up with Vox and Huffington Post as your "journalism," you can't help BUT conclude that journalism is a form of activism. https://t.co/PmTRCZ0IC9
— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) March 26, 2018
Actually, journalism is closer to the opposite of activism. Activism is based on a certainty that the activist knows what's right. Journalism's foundation is a conviction that we do not know and therefore seek to find out.
— Marc Fisher (@mffisher) March 26, 2018
Recommended
Journalism is not activism. This should not have gone unchallenged. https://t.co/aTSztDfufR
— Meg Kinnard (@MegKinnardAP) March 25, 2018
But it was said on CNN, so that’s not unexpected. The Politics editor of National Journal also disagreed that journalism = activism:
Journalism isn't activism; it's presenting the facts, honestly and objectively. It's this mentality that's killing trust in our profession. https://t.co/32AWo9E7q4
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) March 25, 2018
However, Los Angeles Times’ national correspondent Matt Pearce agreed with the school paper’s co-editor:
Journalism *is* activism in its most basic form. The entire basis for its ethical practice is the idea that a democracy requires an informed citizenry in order to function. Choosing what you want people to know is a form of activism, even if it’s not the march-and-protest kind. https://t.co/e1JfES3ciA
— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) March 26, 2018
Does anybody think that even the fairest and most diligent of investigative reporters wrote their horrifying stories hoping that nothing would change?
— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) March 26, 2018
There was a statement in there that for many was a dead giveaway:
“Choosing what you want people to know” is interesting framing https://t.co/dEGOBgaIVU
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) March 26, 2018
Journalism: A form of activism where you carry out the act of “Choosing what you want people to know” – Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times
Sounds like withholding inconvenient facts. Any questions or is it clear why the majority of the public doesn’t trust the news anymore? https://t.co/gthxLzSMjz
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) March 26, 2018
Right!?
*Of course* the media have become little more than activists with obvious political agendas. Not sure I'd brag about this, since the respect they once had and lost is because of this. https://t.co/kKcOX4kXHa
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) March 26, 2018
I earned a degree in journalism 20 years ago. I don’t care who you vote for or what you protest and am thrilled that you get to do both according to your own beliefs, but if the new definition of journalism is, “Choosing what you want people to know” we are doomed. https://t.co/OTYPdHN3ll
— Jon Acuff (@JonAcuff) March 26, 2018
Matt, you are describing propaganda!!!
“Choosing what you want people to know…” https://t.co/NLfTpLjJba— Jtomka (@jtomka) March 26, 2018
Not even hiding it anymore https://t.co/hymyWzScte
— Orange Muppet Energy (@sunnyright) March 26, 2018
But on the bright side…
https://twitter.com/RobProvince/status/978131866409689088
What a breath of fresh air!
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