The decline of journalism writ large in university capitulations

Journalism has been a critical part of awareness and accountability in society, whether large media operations like CNN or The Guardian or The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times or smaller publications and media channels online or independent journalists who rely on social media to get the news and analysis of world events out.

It has been slipping in so many ways for so many years now, a couple decades at least, and in the United States in particular, it is swaying on the precipice of a cliff. And two universities seem poised to push it right over the edge.

Before I go on, let me introduce myself. My last name is probably familiar to many of you simply because BGIM—Black Girl in Maine—is named Shay Stewart-Bouley. Yes, I am the oft-referred-to “second husband.” I am also a coparent and friend to her still. I am the unnamed “back end editor” she refers to sometimes around here and on social media. I provide editing services and other skills I’ve gained in decades as a journalist, writer in general, professional editor, and sometimes media and marketing jack-of-all-trades. You rarely see my byline here because it’s not really necessary for my opinions to appear in Shay’s media—my job is support. But she asked me to share my thoughts on journalism right now in the light of certain recent events, and so I will.

I hold two journalism degrees—a bachelor’s and a master’s—from the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism. It, along with the Columbia University school of journalism, is generally seen as one of the top two J-schools in the nation.

Both universities have looked the current climate of authoritarianism and fascism in the eye—led by Donald Trump and Elon Musk—and both have blinked. At least one has bent its knee quite literally.

As reported by various media, including here and here, Columbia University, facing a threat by Trump to withhold hundreds of millions in federal funding, has caved into demands by the president to change very significant things. Among them: implementing a mask ban, punishing student and faculty protestors, revising admission procedures,  overhauling its rules for protests, and conducting a review of its Middle Eastern Studies department. Margaret Sullivan in The Guardian wrote about why this is so troubling, and I won’t go into detail parroting her words (I encourage you to read her piece), but as she noted, the university has a nearly $15-billion endowment and could have afforded to stand its ground. But it did not.

It’s the university as a whole, certainly—a decision from way on high in the university administration—and not from the J-school specifically. But I have yet to see any outcry from people in the journalism school, and it is one of the foundational schools of the university. This is itself capitulation by people who understand the role and importance of the media, and choose to bend to the will of a president who wants nothing more than absolute power and no dissent.

A smaller-scale, but equally disturbing to me—especially as an alumnus of Northwestern—bit of news revolves around the denied tenure and imminent firing of a journalism professor there as reported here and here. In a nutshell, LGBT+ scholar and critic of Palestine’s treatment at the hands of Israel, Steven Thrasher, who was in line for tenure, has been told that he will not receive that tenure and will be fired. The university had recently investigated him over his efforts to prevent police from breaking up a pro-Palestinian protest encampment, and ultimately decided he did no wrong, reinstating him. In 2021, he was granted a mentoring award from Northwestern and the journalism school’s Promotion and Tenure Committee praised Thrasher’s work in his 2023 mid-tenure review.

Now, suddenly, the dean of the journalism school, Charles Whitaker, is declaring Thrasher’s teaching as “inadequate” and will, unless Thrasher successfully appeals, kick him to the curb.

I am not privy to the inner workings at the university. I have not been on campus in decades. But it’s hard not to see someone who protests against Israeli policies toward Palestinians and is pro-LGBTQ+ and has a glowing track record as a professor suddenly being deemed inadequate as a move to delete from the university someone that could bring it heat from Trump or his various cronies. It’s cowardice. It’s compliance. It’s capitulation to a culture of anti-free speech and anti-freedom. It’s disgusting.

To see two universities with vaunted journalism programs fail so spectacularly is frightening. Already over the decades, we saw major media bought up by conservative billionaires who aren’t interesting in balance or truth but increasingly on quashing reporting that is critical of oligarchical trends in this country and increasingly authoritarian, inhumane and unconstitutional behavior from the right.

Look, the left has its own failings and faults, but when you’re trampling on the folks who push letting people be themselves and promoting programs that help people and instead you lift up policies and trends to concentrate wealth and demonize difference and cut social programs, that’s not admirable.

And it certainly isn’t “balanced.”

The media has for a long time been seen as “liberal” when in fact it has pushed ever rightward for decades, with even PBS being right of center now in my opinion and CNN trying to be Fox News Lite. It’s hard to stem that tide when right-wing billionaires control most of the media, but I at least expected the journalism schools to toe the line on defending journalists (and those who teach future journalists).

Many think that journalists shouldn’t have opinions or protest or whatever. Ridiculous! That’s the right all of us have under the Constitution. It’s when they are writing their news articles that are painting a whole picture that they put their personal feelings aside and just “present the facts” and attempt to have a good balance of differing valid opinions (which is different than platforming liars and misinformation just to have another point of view, which is a dangerously increasing trend for years now).

The media has often been referred to as The Fourth Estate, which has European origins and sets it up as an influential and necessary force after the state, the church, and the common people (the first three estates).  But here in the United States, I have often seen that phrase in a somewhat different light. We have three branches of government, and then the media as a fourth force to keep them accountable and report on their evils as well as their good works.

The Fourth Estate is quickly becoming a lapdog to the rich and to the government. Particularly in big media, we see more propoganda-spewing and reporting of lies without telling the public they are clearly and provably lies. That’s what media in places like Russia is. Just a tool.

And Columbia and Northwestern both are showing nothing but abject cowardice as they take their own steps to make journalism a tool of control instead of one of the few things that could cut through the static and give us a truer view of reality.

I’m not giving up; I’m not saying it’s over. As Shay says so often here, there is always hope and we must always fight. But journalism has taken another big hit—two of them—this month, and it’s heartbreaking. This wasn’t who I was taught to be, and I won’t stand for it. None of us should.

So support the smaller media that still struggle to present truth. Be careful trusting the reporting of big media outlets. Think critically. Because if you don’t, you’ll just be playing into the hands of people who want to control you with their power and their lies. We can’t let that stand.

---

Image by Roman Kraft via Unsplash

Want to support Shay/BGIM? Consider a tip, or become a monthly patron, if you aren’t already doing either or both.