As America becomes more polarized, professional journalism is becoming more infantilized. The bias that has long poured over the tipping point is now being openly expressed as formal necessity for a craft that once pledged itself (no matter how insincerely) to an objective and neutral commitment to reporting facts.
The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University (ASU) enjoys touting itself as one of the most prominent journalism schools in the country. The school “is requiring students to complete the course Diversity and Civility at Cronkite (DCC) in order to earn their bachelor’s degree in journalism,” The Epoch Times reported March 30.
All the usual blather is being deployed to mold the minds of America’s next generation of big-box media reporters.
Only One W Matters in Modern Journalism
“The course, which also applies to students studying sports journalism and digital media, redefines such traditional phrases as ‘America is a melting pot’ as race-based microaggressions and teaches future journalists to avoid assuming ‘unearned benefits’ that come with ‘heterosexual privileges,’” ET related.
(Photo by Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Things young credentialed reporters should know as they go about their very important journalizing tasks include:
“To object to a man using a women’s bathroom is an example of discrimination against transgender individuals” and “you should offer your own pronouns first and then ask for the other person’s pronouns. While it can be awkward at first, it can quickly become routine.”
The famous Five Ws (who, what, where, when, and why) all stand for “woke” in America’s mass communications classrooms today.
A glance at a “Vision, Mission and Values” page on the Cronkite School portal at ASU’s website speaks volumes as to how far astray modern journalism has drifted from traditional news reporting.
“We are guided by the following VISION: We believe in the power of media to inform and inspire society to solve challenges big and small,” the first power bullet reads. Changing society is the goal, then – rather than providing valuable information for others to utilize as they may see fit.
“That vision is inspired by this MISSION: We educate and empower communicators to create an informed and inclusive society, advancing understanding and connection among creators, audiences, industry and the academy,” bullet No. 2 states. Once again, reshaping community is the clear agenda.
Off the Sidelines and Into the Game
The overarching idea, which has nothing to do with any real claim to practicing journalism on a serious level, is to push or manipulate readers or viewers into accepting the particular partisan views of the writers or video reporters. The Cronkite School is not a neutral observer in the cultural and political wars raging in the United States in 2024. It is an active participant supporting the ruling progressive establishment.
George Soros (Photo by Peter Foley – Pool/Getty Images)
Last May, Liberty Nation documented the curious mélange of “conservative” Republicans, liberal Democrats, globalist bigwigs, and big-box media titans gathered for the 2023 McCain Institute Summit. “A look at the McCain Institute’s donors shows … notorious progressive globalist philanthropist George Soros’s Open Society Foundations,” in the “$100,000 and Above” category, LN noted. “Fellow powerhouse hard-left philanthropies the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation are also to be found in this highest-dollar category, as is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“A quote from another partner of the McCain Institute best captures the spirit of this ruling establishment coterie,” the article continued. “In January 2022, the Institute teamed up with Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications [sic] to create ‘a task force … to fight disinformation in the media landscape.’”
Their truths are to be your facts.
The Cronkite School is not an outlier. This is the official posture of America’s leading professional journalism bodies today. On April 8, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), an organization that claims it “is dedicated to the perpetuation of a free press as the cornerstone of our nation and our liberty,” hosted an event that revealed how hollow that assertion rings.
“Covering the 2024 election when the future of democracy is on the ballot” was the ridiculous title, and if you have been paying any attention to what has been happening in this country over the past eight years, you already know what that means.
Here is the opening paragraph of a description of the affair on the SPJ website:
“This November, the US will hold one of the most consequential elections in its history. One candidate challenged the results of the 2020 election, helped gin up support for the January 6 insurrection, and has no qualms about what he’d do if re-elected in 2024. He’s suggested using the Justice Department to go after his political enemies, weakening protections for a nonpartisan civil service, and using an 1807 law to send in US troops to police unrest in cities. This year, writes journalism professor Jay Rosen, the election must be about ‘not the odds, but the stakes.’”
Do you see how neatly that aligns with ASU’s Cronkite School and its self-avowed “mission” to influence people to think a certain way in order to change society?
“[I]t will be up to hundreds of reporters, freelancers, and college journalists across the country to cover the 2024 presidential contest, as well as down-ballot races, in a way that informs the public and keeps faith with the SPJ code of ethics, which advises: ‘Search for and report the truth,’ and ‘Minimize harm,’” the description adds.
Rooting out obscured facts has been usurped by amplifying perceived personal “truths” that are nothing more than partisan cultural and political beliefs. The dreary results of this professional malfeasance are evident in prominent news outlets.
Dear Reader: Here Is Why You Are So Dumb
Cleveland Plain Dealer Editor Chris Quinn appeared on CNN to explain “why he wrote a weekend letter to readers about the paper’s anti-Trump coverage,” the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard aptly detailed on April 1.
Quinn unabashedly declared he felt he “owed” it to clueless Donald Trump-supporting readers of his newspaper to let them know how stupid they were.
“These are people that watch Fox News or Newsmax and they believe it because they – it appears credible,” Quinn said. “Then they come to our platforms and see the opposite and they’re conflicted because they like us. They read us for the sports coverage or the local news, or what have you.
“This was for them. I had to, I owed them some sort of an explanation,” Quinn blustered. “And the reason it was so difficult is I don’t want to demean them. I don’t want to criticize them. But I can’t stray from the truth. The truth is this guy is a monster. He’s the worst president in history and many people understand that. Those who get their news from not credible sources believe what they’re hearing.”
American journalism seems to grow more insufferably arrogant the further it gets from any principled standards. That’s bad enough. But it is the pathetic attempt to claim to be upholding lofty professional ideals as they make a mockery of them that highlights the especially childish and increasingly irrelevant status of credentialed news media outlets in today’s information marketplace.
