August 30, 2016

"[T]he professors recommend that white-dominated newsrooms no longer cling to traditional standards of pure objectivity, but instead try something they call 'active objectivity.'"

Capital Time editor and executive publisher Paul Fanlund writes about UW–Madison journalism professors Sue Robinson and Kathleen Bartzen Culver:
“When white reporters cover issues involving race, they often fall back on traditional, passive voices of objectivity, such as deferring to official sources and remaining separate from communities,” they wrote.

Robinson and Culver contend there is an ethical tension between this neutral tone and the need to build trust in communities of color.... “An active objectivity remains committed to credible, verified facts and information, but adds educated interpretation.... Active objectivity calls for news organizations as institutions and journalists as individuals to detach from power, emphasize social, historical and cultural contexts in stories, question explicit and implicit biases, build trust among communities not often visited, and invest efforts over time to build relationships with people rather than go-to leaders.”...

Their conclusion was edgy: “Through their embrace of value-neutral and facts-only reporting, many Madison news outlets failed to build trust, diversify their sourcing, and tell the true stories of race....  A journalism that is loyal to citizens is a journalism of courage — of recognizing the disparities and concerns that plague some within our communities and carrying them forward to the attention of all"....
Is that edgy? It seems to me all the journalistic outlets already have activism within whatever objectivity they maintain. The question is the nature of the activism, and those who don't like that can push back by saying the journalism isn't properly objective enough or openly talk about what they don't like about the way the activism is going.

The journalism professors concentrated on reporting on a 2011 controversy over a charter school that was aimed at helping young African American male students. I wrote about that several times, including, here, "Madison school board votes down charter school designed to lift up poor minority kids."

99 comments:

Wilbur said...

Of course, Professor Robinson and Culver are uniquely situated to deem what are "the true stories of race".

rhhardin said...

It's about ratings. Nothing that confuses soap opera women will run.

The cover of news is objectivity but the reality is soap opera.

Leftists and politicians free-ride on that financial fact.

If you want an evil corporation, look first at the news biz. Everything is sacrificed to their profits.

Big Mike said...

When it comes to bias, I think that the KKK and white supremacists of the 1960s displayed less outright bigotry than is found in a modern newsroom. The sole question is not are they bigoted but what are they bigoted about?

traditionalguy said...

This silliness is slowing walking a program of Ethnic Cleansing. Just eliminate Northern European ethnic types and Wisconsin will finally be free...free from restraints imposed by the laws of an oppressive Northern European culture.

MadisonMan said...

Two white females give instruction on how to cover race. I guess they should know?

Dude1394 said...

Oh it is just another case of the veneer being pulled off of the democrat press. They have openly picked a candidate in this presidentional race and now will openly pick which side of a story they are promoting.

Sounds a lot like Pravda.

MikeR said...

Everyone wants news coverage that agrees with them.
Whatever.

MadisonMan said...

And Paul Fanlund writing about this strikes me as pretty echo-chamber-y.

Newspapers are above all, a business. (Mostly a failing business, but still). Reporters write about what sells Newspapers.

Who buys the most Newspapers -- that is, what is the target audience? Apparently it's becoming guilt-ridden whites because that's what the two Professors and Fanlund seem to be advocating for a focus.

Paul said...

"Active objectivity"....AKA lying...

YoungHegelian said...

Through their embrace of value-neutral and facts-only reporting, many Madison news outlets failed to build trust, diversify their sourcing, and tell the true stories of race..

"Through their embrace of bourgeois so-called values such as "value-neutral and facts-only reporting", many Madison news outlets failed to build the trust of the workers, diversify their sourcing, and tell the true stories of the class struggle.."

There, FIFY.

Welcome, comrade, to our new utopia in power!

David Begley said...

The Melissa Harris-Perry model failed.

I did not know about that story on how the unions killed a charter school designed to help black males. That tells one everything about today's Dem party. School isn't about the students; it's about the unions.

MadisonMan said...

btw -- did a lawsuit ever come out of that decision not to fund the Charter School? (Not to my knowledge).

MAJMike said...

Most of the news media are DemCong operatives with a by-line.

John henry said...

This is rich coming from Madison.

Madison is, objectively, by the numbers, perhaps the most racist city in the US.

When is it going to get its house in order? Pro Tip: Telling other people in other communities to get their houses in order doesn't count. The problem is Madison and Madison needs to fix it.

John Henry

Sydney said...

Active objectivity calls for news organizations as institutions and journalists as individuals to detach from power, emphasize social, historical and cultural contexts in stories, question explicit and implicit biases, build trust among communities not often visited, and invest efforts over time to build relationships with people rather than go-to leaders...

I think this makes sense. One of the problems with our news reporting is that the papers side with the elites every time, whether it be global warming or charter schools. They ignore the community they live in and report about. There are no "beat reporters" anymore. And for what it's worth, I think the same advise would be well taken by physicians, lawyers, social workers - anyone serving others. Get to know your community. And "politicians" and "experts" aren't the community.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

The smarter people are, the less they are influenced by advertising and propaganda.

tim in vermont said...

"When the legend becomes the facts, go with the legend."

John henry said...

Blogger David Begley said...

"School isn't about the students; it's about the unions."

Well, duh.

"When the students start paying dues to the AFT, the AFT will start looking after their interests."

Attributed to Albert Shankar of AFT.

There may be some question about whether he actually said it but the principle is crystal clear. Teachers (and all workers) pay the union to represent them and to represent only them.

Failure to do so would be both morally and legally wrong.

I am always amazed at people who think NEA and AFT should be looking after anyone's interests other than their members.

John Henry

John henry said...

David,

The "Well duh" may seem offensive and I maybe should have used other words. I did not mean to insult you and hope you don't take it that way.

John Henry

Hunter said...

"Active Objectivity" sounds like the newest addition to the pantheon of Newspeak terms that includes such hits as "Economic Justice" and "Positive Rights."

In all cases the first word is the signal that the second word's core meaning is being subverted in service to some Greater Good.

Partiality is Fairness. Theft is Justice. Bias is Objectivity.

Sebastian said...

"A journalism that is loyal to citizens is a journalism of courage — of recognizing the disparities and concerns that plague some within our communities and carrying them forward to the attention of all." Prog propaganda takes no courage. Loyalty to citizens, "all" citizens, would mean not taking the side of special interests. And by the way, who's going to pay for that exercise in "courage"?

MikeR said...

"Teachers (and all workers) pay the union to represent them and to represent only them.
Failure to do so would be both morally and legally wrong."
If so, any type of support for them would be morally wrong. Like a lawyer representing his client against the rival claimants - students, parents, taxpayers... Disgusting idea.
The welfare of the students is the only reason that any school should exist.

Matt Sablan said...

"... invest efforts over time to build relationships with people rather than go-to leaders..."

-- I'd like it if they spent more time with, for example, people who have to live in the communities that suffer from the riots more than the people promoting the riots.

Paul Snively said...

I actually recommend dispensing with the pretense of objectivity altogether. Say what you think, what you believe. As long as there isn't censorship of differing points of view.

I'd rather have 100 obviously-biased broadsheets than one laughably "objective" "newspaper of record."

Ignorance is Bliss said...

A journalism that is loyal to citizens is a journalism of courage — of recognizing the disparities and concerns that plague some within our communities and carrying them forward to the attention of all"....

This is where you get hands up, don't shoot and Trayvon was murdered by a white hispanic.

How much more active can your objectivity get?

Matt Sablan said...

Of course, that's national-level journalists. The more local journalism gets, the generally higher quality it is because it is easier to humanize your neighbors when you write about your neighborhood than when you have national level headlines to create.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

On a related note, I wonder if Althouse is going to address University of Wisconsin Madison's recent ranking as the number one party school in the nation. In particular, how this might relate to employer's preference for foreign workers over the useless drunks her institution produces. Maybe we could get a charter university started in Madison.

sean said...

That's about as fatuous as most state university products.

Gusty Winds said...

"Madison School Board votes down Charter School for African-American boys, proving once again that liberals really don't care about black people".

"Survival of the Teacher's Union monopoly on education, more important to the Madison School Board than the future of young African-American men."

"Madison School Board leaves in place educational status quo for young African-American men, fearing a real education might help them migrate to the West side of town".

Fernandinande said...

Already active nationwide, it just needs a name: The Joseph Goebbels College of Journalism.

Gusty Winds said...

ARM said...I wonder if Althouse is going to address University of Wisconsin Madison's recent ranking as the number one party school

The Wisconsin Idea basically states that education should have influence on people's lives beyond the classroom. Getting wasted is just one of its many added benefits and traditions. It's the Wisconsin way.

And people though Walker screwed all that up.

If you had to borrow 100K and listen to the empty bullshit coming from UW it probably takes a lot of marijuana and beer to make it through. Hell I'll bet the parents are drinking it away as well.

Fernandinande said...

"Madison school board votes down charter school designed to lift up poor minority kids."

Those poor Asian kids, always flunking/dropping out and getting arrested and shot for no reason.

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised we don't have women with three or four hyphenated names by now.

Laslo Spatula said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bruce Hayden said...

These profs are advocating training their students to treat recitation of the progressive narrative, whatever that conveniently is at the time, as if it were the truth. But why would people pay to be involuntarily indoctrinated? Pravda worked because it had a legal monopoly. We aren't going to see a state monopoly on news anytime soon here. Ultimately, the grads of this program are going to be found out as well trained progressive SJWs, and incapable of doing the jobs they were hired to do. Their UW degrees will be worthless, but they will still owe their student loans. And this will ultimately destroy their department, when word gets around about the worthlessness of that degree. These profs should be fired for violating the tenets of their profession. But, they won't be, of course, because the inmates are running the asylum there.

Brando said...

Maybe they should just change the course to "activism 101". Train a bunch of idealistic young scamps to get out there and make social activism happen.

But don't call it "journalism". There should still be some profession left for actually reporting facts and presenting varying analyses of those facts. If that's not enough for you, major in Activism.

Brando said...

"These profs are advocating training their students to treat recitation of the progressive narrative, whatever that conveniently is at the time, as if it were the truth. But why would people pay to be involuntarily indoctrinated?"

The "payment" part of it is that they're paying for a credential, not to actually learn anything. To the extent they're learning, they're learning to become activists. Which is their right, but they really have no place calling themselves journalists any more.

RonF said...

Objectivity? In the news media? Since when?

John henry said...

When did newspapers become objective? Or start claiming to be objective? I think I mind less that they are not objective than that they claim to be objective. Tell us what your biases are and we can read you with that in mind. Or perhaps not read you.

It used to be, not all that long ago, that newspapers had specific, stated, points of view. They identified specifically and openly with a political party. Some still are, at least in their names:

Hunterdon Co Democrat - Flemington, NJ
Star Democrat - Easton, MD
Brown County Democrat - Nashville, IN
Daily Democrat - Fort Madison,
Mason County Democrat - Havana, IL

Or
The Republican - Springfield, MA
Review Republican - Williamsport, IN
Greeley County Republican - Tribune, KS
Anthony Republican - Anthony, KS
Chronicle Republican - Grinnell, IA

John Henry

Eric said...

They are trying to provide some journalists with a rationalization that these journalists don't think they need.

rehajm said...

I wanted to believe otherwise but it's just another in a recent series of episodes of biased journalists giving themselves permission to be propagandists without using any of the obvious buzzwords. Like leftie Password or something.

I'm unpersuaded by their attempt to swaddle their bigotry in the safety blanket of race.

Rick said...

I am always amazed at people who think NEA and AFT should be looking after anyone's interests other than their members.

I don't think people expect them to do any differently, they advance this inappropriate focus as a reason for such unions to not exist.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Gusty Winds said...
Getting wasted is just one of its many added benefits and traditions.


Being broke, unemployed and living your parent's basement will become future traditions.

Someone employed by the number one party university in the nation is in no position to complain about the deficits of any other educational institution.

John henry said...

What about newspaper ownership? For example, Mexican Carlos Slim probably "owns" the NY Times in the sense that if he pulls his support they will close the next day.

I wonder if that influences the NY Times approach to news concerning Mexico in general and Slim's cell phone empire in particular? I doubt that he is calling them with input on stories. He would not need to. All editors would know not to run anything that might displease him.

Ditto Jeff Bezos and the WaPo.

Or Warren Buffett and his 60 or so newspapers.

And advertising. TV is rife with pharmaceutical ads. How often do we see anything about pharma shenanigans?

And now we are seeing more and more "Native Advertising" which are "news" stories that are written, placed and paid for by companies to promote their products. http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/07/07/native-advertising-examples

The press is bought and paid for. We need to realize that and pay them all the respect they deserve (slim to none). OTOH, once we realize this, we can read them with that in mind and it may still be interesting or occasionally informative.

JOhn Henry

Rick said...

AReasonableMan said...
On a related note, I wonder if Althouse is going to address University of Wisconsin Madison's recent ranking as the number one party school in the nation. In particular, how this might relate to employer's preference for foreign workers over the useless drunks her institution produces. Maybe we could get a charter university started in Madison.


I see ARM is revealing his true character.

Peter said...

Active Objectivity journalism (how to):

1. Start by listing the conclusions you wish to reach.

2. Create questions which may be used to support these conclusions.

3. Search for sources until you find some who will answer these questions in ways that support the conclusions you wish to reach.

4. Publish!

tim in vermont said...

Maybe we could get a charter university started in Madison. - ARM

ARM mocks the students in impoverished neighborhoods denied a chance for a better school because #UNIONDUESMATTER. Wisconsin, on the other hand, like all universities, has plenty of competition.

mtrobertslaw said...

These two journalism professors should take a sabbatical for two or three years, move into the Milwaukee's inner city and get a job with the Journal-Sentinel reporting on what's going on in the "hood". Any chance that will happen?

John henry said...

What is the difference between UW and Trump University?

I looked at the law school stats in USNWR a week or two back. Something like 60% of graduates had jobs requiring a law degree or "a job where a law degree would be helpful" (Quote approximate)

I suspect that a large number of UW graduates, are employed in jobs that make no use whatever of their college degree. Did they waste their money?

UW's school of packaging in Menominee is an exception, their students start getting good job offers beginning September of their senior year.

The majority of Trump U graduates seem pretty satisfied with their degrees and are working in related fields. Also have less educational debt.

UW is not alone in this, of course. It is a general problem with schools across the US.

A classic article on journalism schools, their history and traditional lack of substance is this one by Michael Lewis

https://newrepublic.com/article/72485/j-school-confidential

John Henry

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Gusty Winds said...
If you had to borrow 100K and listen to the empty bullshit coming from UW it probably takes a lot of marijuana and beer to make it through. Hell I'll bet the parents are drinking it away as well.


Anyone stupid enough to send their child to the number one party university in the nation gets what they deserve. It's basically a form of child abuse.

tcrosse said...

The University of Wisconsin is a fountain of learning where all go to drink.
Here in Las Vegas the one newspaper is the Review-Journal, whose editiorial page is right-of-center. But one section of the paper is the Las Vegas Sun, which contains its own editorial page and is left of center. The better hotels in town deliver a free newspaper to your door, so this one provides something for everybody. The paper is owned by Sheldon Adelson, a zillionaire who is no liberal but who knows marketing.

Henry said...

Robinson and Culver are confusing journalism with history.

I much prefer reading history to news. History is the discipline with the word count to "emphasize social, historical and cultural contexts in stories, question explicit and implicit biases" while "remain[ing] committed to credible, verified facts and information". History also has the advantage of access to more sources of information and the time to allow multiple authors and interpretations.

Robinson and Culver are also confusing journalism with journalism. The word "active" in this passage should be unnecessary: "active objectivity calls for news organizations as institutions and journalists as individuals to detach from power, emphasize social, historical and cultural contexts in stories, question explicit and implicit biases..."

This is a critique from the left, but it could just as easily be a critique from the right. The naming of power, context, and bias may change, but the critique remains the same.

Fernandinande said...

white-dominated newsrooms

There are almost exactly the same number of blacks (7.3%) as there are Asians (7.4%) in Madison.

In the article:
"African-American" appears seven times.
"Asian" zero.

Why doesn't anyone pander to Asians? I don't get it.

rhhardin said...

It used to be that the WSJ was left wing in the news and right wing in the editorial page.

Then among other things it turned into a women's lifestyle paper and went all left.

MD Greene said...


There was a brief period, 20 or 30 years maybe, when journalists tried to understand situations from all angles and compile even-handed discussions reflecting conflicting points of view.

Before that, for hundreds of years, all newssheets and newspapers were house organs of political parties. This was understood broadly, and readers factored in the bias as they absorbed the content.

Now, especially with the internet but also the traditional press, news outlets filter reports through their institutional biases. Some of them still claim objectivity, but serious people have grown skeptical. Unserious people think that news reports that reflect their personal biases are objective.

"Active objectivity," is only the latest dodge trying to force ostensibly objective news outlets to admit guilt and adopt the preferred bias of the latest victim class.

Many people want to proclaim their own truth. Over time, fewer people are willing to participate in "conversations." More heat than light.

Known Unknown said...

This will turn out well.

rhhardin said...

Caring objectivity for the women, cynical objectivity for the men.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Who buys the most Newspapers -- that is, what is the target audience?

Old people. Nobody under 30 is buying a newspaper. Probably nobody under 40. If you are over 50 there is a good chance you haven't read a paper in years.

As for reporting and activism and race, a couple of years ago I got a call from the local newspaper's subscription department. They were running a promotion. Six weeks free for former subscribers to get them interested in the paper again. Against my better judgement I agreed. The first day the paper appeared on my door step I carried it in, opened it up to the op-ed section, and read an editorial on a contentious local issue that involved race. The editorial, instead of making an reasoned argument on the issue just stated that the problem was all the bigoted white racists that lived in the community I was in. I figured that if that was the best they could come up with then I didn't need to waste my time with them. Trashed that paper and didn't even bother to take any of the others out of the plastic bags they came in.

Known Unknown said...

It's as if self-selection bias has nothing to do with anything.

Steve M. Galbraith said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bad Lieutenant said...

AReasonableMan said...
Gusty Winds said...
Getting wasted is just one of its many added benefits and traditions.

Being broke, unemployed and living your parent's basement will become future traditions.

Someone employed by the number one party university in the nation is in no position to complain about the deficits of any other educational institution.
8/30/16, 8:51 AM


ARM, all can see that you're just itching to tell Ann Althouse to shut the fuck up and stop annoying you with her dissent from the party line, so why don't you man up and do it? Here, let me help you:

Ann, ARM is getting annoyed with the things you write. Could you please write other things, so that ARM can be happy for once in his godrotting miserable life? Thank you so much.

Shorter ARM:
Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!!!

Hope that helped, ARM.

Steve M. Galbraith said...

I'm so old I remember being taught that we shouldn't judge people by the color of their skin and that your race tells us nothing about you and that beneath our skin color we were all the same flesh-and-blood human beings.

Now we're supposed to be racialists - that is, judge people by their race.

Ah, the good old days.

Laslo Spatula said...

From 'The Community of Color Gazette':

"Local Man of Color Buys Malt Liquor With Exact Change"

Roland Jasper, a Black Man, visited his local Seven-Eleven Convenience Store Monday morning and purchased a can of malt liquor using exact change, all in coins.

"It's not like I buy everything that way," Mr. Jasper said when interviewed about the purchase. "I don't have a problem with paper money."

Mohamed Eza, the clerk at the Seven-Eleven, confirmed Mr. Jasper's story.

"Roland, he's used paper money here before. He's a regular customer. It's just that yesterday he used exact change."

"I just had a lot of coins in my pocket, that's all" Mr. Jasper said when asked to elaborate on his purchasing method. "It just seemed silly to use a couple of Ones and get still more change back. So I took the change out of my pocket, counted it, and saw that I had enough to buy my malt liquor. So that's what I did."

When asked if he would make such a purchase again, Mr Jasper replied: "I guess I would. It seems like I'm always getting change when I use paper money. That change adds up."

When asked what he was going to do with his malt liquor Mr. Jasper grew serious.

"None of your f**king business," he answered.

So there it is: a Story of Change in our Community of Color. For more stories like this please read 'The Community of Color Gazette'.

I am Laslo.

Bruce Hayden said...

@Brando - what I was trying to point out was that this training away from objectivity is likely to ultimately result in a destruction, or at least great dimuation, of the credential of a UW journalism degree. Why would anyone hire a UW journalism grad at a newspaper or the like, if the paper knew that they would ultimately drive away customers? That is the free market side of credentialism that the left hates. They take over control of something like a credential, try to use it to perpetuate their statist goals, ultimately destroying it. Compounding this, the Millennials, and the generation coming up behind them, are more sensitive to the value of their degrees tha probably ever before - because they are the ones confronted by a lifetime of student debt hanging over their major life decisions if they pick wrong. (And, yes, the presence and amount of student debt, along with college major, are factoring into things like the decision of who to marry, or even whether to get married - which means that I may get grandchildren because my kid graduated debt free with a STEM degree).

Making this worse is that the economics are just not there for the traditional employers of journalism grads. Few cities can afford to have more than one major paper these days - papers that can afford to do any real journalism. Print media is in decline in the digital world, because they no longer have captive audiences. I haven't paid for news in years and more and more people are doing the same. Why pay for content, when you can get it free? And esp when you know that it is less likely to have unwanted biases. Who is going to hire a UW journalism degree if you know that their work product is likely to be less salable than that of journalism grads from other schools?

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

BL, your comment was very insightful, providing much needed help for the unemployed white kid with 100K debt and a drinking problem thanks to Althouse's 'educational' institution.

320Busdriver said...

Tangentially, I recommend John Olivers Last Week Tonight devastating and eye opening piece on the fraud and abuse at some charter schools here.

I am pro charter/school choice, especially for disadvantaged inner city youth. It would seem from this piece that the rot that permeates much of the black community knows no boundaries and if it involves self enrichment then to hell with the kids. "I'm gonna get mine."

mockturtle said...

You are right, Ann. All news agencies today practice active objectivity--or even active subjectivity---in every report.

damikesc said...

Oh it is just another case of the veneer being pulled off of the democrat press. They have openly picked a candidate in this presidentional race and now will openly pick which side of a story they are promoting.

I ALMOST hope they overturn Citizens United.

Watching the press be shut up for 2 months would be fun. I'm sure they'd bitch and moan, but a Republican President could EASILY shut down the network news and newspapers as "political activism"

Brando said...

"Making this worse is that the economics are just not there for the traditional employers of journalism grads. Few cities can afford to have more than one major paper these days - papers that can afford to do any real journalism. Print media is in decline in the digital world, because they no longer have captive audiences. I haven't paid for news in years and more and more people are doing the same. Why pay for content, when you can get it free? And esp when you know that it is less likely to have unwanted biases. Who is going to hire a UW journalism degree if you know that their work product is likely to be less salable than that of journalism grads from other schools?"

Yeah--the whole industry is circling the drain. Most journalism degree holders I know joke about how unmarketable their degree is (most go into something only tangentially related to journalism). I suppose this new "activism" degree that UW is trying out will produce propagandists for political groups (or maybe use those skills to market commercial products).

I don't suspect the school administrators or faculty care either way if any of their students get jobs--so long as they pay the tuition (subsidized by the rest of us). And if they can indoctrinate enough people to support their way of life (look at the bleatings every time someone considers cutting education) all the better for them.

Sal said...

The goal of Madison's newspaper is to not upset the worldview of its aging readership. Publish something different, and the old folks will cancel their subscription and the newspaper employees will be out of a job.

William said...

Just recently there was a piece (in Politico?) written by an Asian journalist who was covering the riots in Milwaukee. A group of black youths singled him out and started giving him a beat down. Another group of blacks pulled him away and told the other blacks that it was not fair to assault him because he wasn't white. The piece was a model of objectivity. He didn't pass any harsh judgment on the people who were trying to beat him to death, nor did he pass any judgment on those who felt the overriding moral question when someone is being beat down is to make sure that they're white and thus deserve it. Considering the circumstances, the piece was remarkably sympathetic to the grievances of the black community and the way in which they chose to express those grievances........Me, I did a slow burn whole reading the piece. What does it take for a journalist to openly and clearly say that black rioters are wrong and far more wrong than they are wronged.

Birkel said...

The second sentence after the block quote is missing the word "pretend".

I am sure this is just an oversight on Althouse's part.

richardsson said...

Journalism degrees are only for the purpose of giving Journalism professors full time employment.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ann Althouse said...Is that edgy? It seems to me all the journalistic outlets already have activism within whatever objectivity they maintain.

It's edgy in that they're open advocating that the profession drop any pretense of objectivity, yes. They're not even pretending, now. On the one hand that should be refreshing (since at least it's a little closer to honest), but on the other the fact that they're congratulating themselves for doing it--that they're saying that it's more morally correct to traduce and eschew the traditional norms of journalism--is pretty repellent.

FullMoon said...

AReasonableMan said... [hush]​[hide comment]

On a related note, I wonder if Althouse is going to address University of Wisconsin Madison's recent ranking as the number one party school in the nation. In particular, how this might relate to employer's preference for foreign workers over the useless drunks her institution produces. Maybe we could get a charter university started in Madison.


Awww, still hurt over never being invited?

Rusty said...

AReasonableMan said...
BL, your comment was very insightful, providing much needed help for the unemployed white kid with 100K debt and a drinking problem thanks to Althouse's 'educational' institution.

Forced. Forced! To go into debt and become a drunkard. It's criminal. The state ought to do something!

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

FullMoon said...
Awww, still hurt over never being invited?


Invited to what exactly? A lifetime of underemployment? AA meetings? Seeing promotions go to those kids who weren't too hungover to understand what happened during Calc4?

Laslo Spatula said...

From 'The Community of Color Gazette':

"Local Woman of Color, Known for her Fingernails, Clips Them""

Jolanda Harris, a Black Woman in our Community of Color, was well known around the neighborhood for the length of her fingernails.

"I grew them to almost three inches," Ms. Harris says, with evident pride. "I'd paint them orange and black for Halloween, Red and Green for Christmas, things like that."

So what caused Ms. Harris to trim these nails that gave her such satisfaction?

"I just couldn't text no more. My nails just kept getting in the way."

Ms. Harris considers texting an important part of her life.

"It's how I keep up with friends and family. It's how I find out at the grocery store if we need more toilet paper. Having enough toilet paper is important. I ain't just going to use a tiny square, you feel me?"

Does Ms. Harris miss her long nails?

"Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I'm more about my hair weaves now, anyway."

Another story of Change, from 'The Community of Color Gazette'.

I am Laslo.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

Here lies justice. Here lies science. Hear lies journalism. Aborted by a million biases. Here lies religious/moral philosophy by the people's choice.

FullMoon said...

AReasonableMan said...

FullMoon said...
Awww, still hurt over never being invited?

Invited to what exactly? A lifetime of underemployment? AA meetings? Seeing promotions go to those kids who weren't too hungover to understand what happened during Calc4?


So, yes?

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

FullMoon said...
So, yes?


I would have said that was a no. But maybe you enjoy being a useless drunk. There's no shortage of Chinese and Indian workers willing to take your place on their way to the American Dream.

FullMoon said...


Blogger AReasonableMan said...

FullMoon said...
So, yes?

I would have said that was a no. But maybe you enjoy being a useless drunk. There's no shortage of Chinese and Indian workers willing to take your place on their way to the American Dream.


Haha!, Good one. Your rant is misplaced. Apparently you have a "useless drunk" close to you, and you have used this sort of lecture to no avail. A wayward son, perhaps?

buwaya said...

Laslo, unfortunately, seems to be hitting the unfortunate core of the problem here - nobody really cares what goes on in that "community". None that would be reading the newspaper, and probably not anyone else.

All such newspapers and mass media news organizations are basically money-losers. They have no viable business model now, and none in the foreseeable future, if it weren't for them being funded as political assets - directly or indirectly. That's why they behave as political assets, and its telling what political direction they take - that tells you what the money wants.

The professors in this case are not just out of the loop but behind the times, and of course irrelevant. Anyway, this is a pro-forma complaint. A mcguffin, a pretext, a false front.

mockturtle said...

Laslo, you are SO special! :-)

Lewis Wetzel said...

This is ridiculous. Sentences have a subject and an object. A subject performs an action on an object. An 'active object' is called a subject.
Aren't journalists supposed to know how language works?

buwaya said...

"Aren't journalists supposed to know how language works?"

Yes. It doesn't work according to rules. Or not those rules.
Back in the day journalists were simply effective writers who could get the public to pay their penny for the paper. Thats the only rule that matters.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

FullMoon said...
A wayward son, perhaps?


You mean my kid in med school who didn't go to a party university? That kid?

jaed said...

I ALMOST hope they overturn Citizens United.
Watching the press be shut up for 2 months would be fun.


No such luck. Remember, the political-speech restrictions in McCain-Feingold contained a specific exemption for media corporations.

Why do you think the media were so upset when Citizens United lifted those restrictions? McCain-Feingold made them the only corporations that could speak on upcoming elections. It made them kingmakers and gave them an enormous advantage, politically. Naturally they resented losing that advantage.

SukieTawdry said...

This is part of the continuing effort to eliminate "fact" in favor of "narrative." Facts are secondary to perceptions ("hands up don't shoot") and perceptions are formed by one's life experiences, one's narrative. There are critical theorists who believe laws should be applied on the basis of narrative. This is just another brick in that wall.

FullMoon said...

AReasonableMan said... [hush]​[hide comment]

FullMoon said...
A wayward son, perhaps?

You mean my kid in med school who didn't go to a party university? That kid?


No. The other one, obviously. The one who is such a disappointment compared to the future veterinarian.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

FullMoon said...
No. The other one, obviously.


All three are pretty successful. No kid gets out of my house without a solid education and none of them have or will go to party universities. Buwaya is restraining himself here, but white culture has become weak and decadent. Party universities are both a symptom and the problem. Anyone who can't see this is themselves part of the problem. The decline of the west as an intellectual force can be traced to the loss of rigor within formerly good or great universities. It is remarkable the fraction of new faculty in hard science and engineering departments who are foreign trained. The local product is either not competitive or more interested in chasing money on Wall Street. Ultimately you can't run a country this way. Ultimately the foreigners will stay home and build up their own countries. But you knew this, or would have if you hadn't gone to a party university.

wildswan said...

Suppose the newspapers DID pull away from "power" and start reporting?

Suggested stories:
- Black birth rate below replacement level due to Planned Parenthood abortions and contraception; Blacks return Democrats to office; Democrats step up the pace of the genocide; Blacks return Democrats to office
- Blacks being replaced by Hispanics in the workforce - reasons why.
- Anti-business climate among Milwaukee Democrats responsible for lack of new jobs to replace lost manufacturing jobs; Blacks return Democrats to office
- Black Lives Matters Accuses Milwaukee Prosecutor John Chisolm of prosecutorial bias and Milwaukee County rich white suburbs accuse Chisolm of the same (due to John Doe investigation) but black Milwaukee City voters outvote Milwaukee County rich white suburbs and return Chisolm to office
- Blacks return Democrats to office; Democrats respond by limiting charter schools as the teacher's union asked; black Milwaukee students fail at accelerating rates; Blacks return Democrats to office
- Blacks are afraid they might lose welfare and other benefits after the Democrats have made sure they lost their jobs due to poorly negotiated trade deals. Blacks return Democrats to office in 2016. Hillary puts through two more trade deals; the American economy crashes a second time; benefits are cut by Chinese overlords; blacks vote for ... too late.




wildswan said...

I listened to Chicago radio this weekend and saw that the liberals and progressives are required to use the word "power" to mean "white establishment", not the Democrats who actually run the cities. They want to blame the white and/or Republican rural counties for refusing to fund the cities. But why do the cities need funding? They used to be the economic powerhouses of the the states they are in. And they used to be centers of reform. Now they are poor because trade deals sent the jobs to Mexico and China. And now they are centers of embedded corruption particularly in allowing unfunded pension funds and in preventing needed school reforms. And the only idea they now have is to hold the non-city people responsible for the city corruption and get their money without a moment of reform within the Democrat-run cities. And God forbid that anyone should dare to think that better trade deals could be negotiated by our leaders on behalf of the American people. Have a sandwich, people.

FullMoon said...


Blogger AReasonableMan said...

FullMoon said...
No. The other one, obviously.

All three are pretty successful. No kid gets out of my house without a solid education and none of them have or will go to party universities. Buwaya is restraining himself here, but white culture has become weak and decadent. Party universities are both a symptom and the problem. Anyone who can't see this is themselves part of the problem. The decline of the west as an intellectual force can be traced to the loss of rigor within formerly good or great universities. It is remarkable the fraction of new faculty in hard science and engineering departments who are foreign trained. The local product is either not competitive or more interested in chasing money on Wall Street. Ultimately you can't run a country this way. Ultimately the foreigners will stay home and build up their own countries. But you knew this, or would have if you hadn't gone to a party university.


Hmm, fairly verbose reply. Apparantly your totalitarian approach to child rearing has produced fairly well results. Spare the rod, spoil the child? No real explanation for your anger towards "party universities". Unlike you, I would expect most students to not participate in drunken parties, regardless of their university. You do not really believe med students have no drunken hullabaloos do you? Maturity and reasonable behavior is more related to the student than the university.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Lead sentence in the 20 Dec 2011 WSJ article: The Madison School Board voted early Tuesday morning against a charter school geared toward low-income minority students.

Very clear reporting. Writers today would begin: "Angela Butterfoot looked stressed and angry as she left the meeting with the flood of parents, saying bitterly that her two children ages eight and eleven would suffer from the decision."

Four paragraphs down the nut of the story would arrive, in a judgemental sentence: "The Madison School Board failed to act with approval on ...."

=====

Off topic, re. school board elections: Electing teachers or their near relatives to the School Board is hiring the fox to guard the hen house.

Jupiter said...

This is all so wrong. Why is UW wasting valuable tax dollars on "education" for a "profession" that never required any education in the first place, and in any case won't exist in five more years? And if they're going to waste their money, why waste it on these two idiots? And if they insist upon allowing this pair of unscrewed bulbs to indoctrinate the next generation of unemployed journalists, shouldn't someone at least point out to them that black people get their news from television?

Sammy Finkelman said...

The journalism professors concentrated on reporting on a 2011 controversy over a charter school that was aimed at helping young African American male students

Simce all professional black spokespeople are against charter schools (that goes witgh the territory0 hoe did the professors handle it?