Our Founding Fathers recognized the purpose of a free press in keeping the government in check — no matter the party in power. But today’s journalism schools are as partial as ever to liberal politics.
Investigative reporting ought to be the first thing on these schools’ agenda, but all too often the elites in charge refuse to portray government officials or public policy as corrupt if doing so would go against their personal philosophy. All this started when universities in the liberal Northeast and on the West Coast (not the heartland) began proclaiming that only they had the ability to select the next generation of reporters, correspondents and television and radio anchors with the wisdom to choose what to report.
This practice has spread to broadcast news organizations and print media, and it is disgraceful. No reputable news organization has decided to compare the Hurricane Katrina disaster with the Hurricane Sandy disaster. President Bush was excoriated for his handling of Katrina, so why has the press not covered the inadequacies of Hurricane Sandy recovery operations under President Obama?
It is shameful that the presidents and boards of governors of the leading journalism institutions and news organizations either don’t recognize that their brand of journalism is really propaganda or they refuse to acknowledge their personal philosophies run counter to the mission of a free press to uncover government perfidy.
Journalism schools need to rediscover their original intent, examine their independence and become once again a valuable asset in providing the public with unbiased reporting.
RAY WILKSTROM
Jacksonville, Fla.
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By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
