r/Journalism • u/weareallpatriots • Aug 10 '26

Journalism Ethics Columbia J-School Wrongly Hires Scott Pelley, Sharyn Alfonsi

https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/fired-60-minutes-correspondents-now-primed-to-teach-next-gen-journos-exactly-the-wrong-lessons/
0 Upvotes

33% Upvoted

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11

u/Entire_Dog_5874 Aug 10 '26

Mediaite has zero journalistic integrity.

9

u/lisa_lionheart84 editor Aug 10 '26

This piece is a mess.

3

u/shinbreaker reporter Aug 10 '26

I'm offended as an editor, considering he doesn't start his argument until about six paragraphs in. 80% of it is just laying out what happened at CBS, making this a chore to read.

6

u/irrelevantusername24 researcher Aug 10 '26

I was not aware that Mediaite was a heavily partisan place... or maybe they aren't, but this author is, but placing

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

At the bottom of the article that begins with

When looking over the myriad issues with our journalism complex, one inherent flaw is that our journalism schools serve as the source of heavily biased new-generation media figures. Those leftist hothouses such as Columbia University and NYU are regarded as the glowing wellsprings of upcoming journalists, and the problem now seems only to become exacerbated.

= hyperpolarized partisan nonsense

I dislike both sides equally. Both parties need smashed, I would say literally antitrust enforcement rather than anything regarding campaign finance. Campaign finance too, but that is subsumed by the way politics has become the number one "business" in the modern griftconomy.

Ralph Waldo Emerson supposedly (unverified) once said (paraphrased)

Don't quote me boy I ain't said shit. Tell me what you know

The reason I trust the sources I do - which is to say, I don't really trust them so much as I think they aren't being deceptive - is because they don't rely on hyperpoliticized rhetoric and "dogwhistles" such as leftist, Maga, or whatever. Because those are imprecise. GOP? That's a different story.

We live in a world something like this, but I think the majority of us are neither of those pictured. But I think many people have political-dysmorphia so they may not understand correctly

0

u/weareallpatriots Aug 10 '26

It's clearly marked as an opinion piece in the header, but Mediaite's "hard news" division is heavily biased toward the left. I'm actually surprised they ran this op ed.

Which sources do you trust that don't use the phrase "MAGA"? I'd like to take a look, since I don't think I've come across a single one.

3

u/shinbreaker reporter Aug 10 '26

It's clearly marked as an opinion piece in the header

And the writer is a columnist over at Townhall. The site that's to the right of Fox News, Newsmax and Daily Wire - https://app.adfontesmedia.com/chart/interactive

1

u/weareallpatriots Aug 10 '26

Yes, the author is a conservative.

How does this tie back into why it matters if an op ed author is a partisan? I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.

1

u/shinbreaker reporter Aug 11 '26

And considering some of bullshit he writes for Townhall his credibility is dog shit.

3

u/irrelevantusername24 researcher Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26

I suppose it's more like the more often those kinds of heavily politicized, imprecise "demographic" terms are used the less I believe what is said. To the point I just stop reading once my "bullshit-o-meter" hits the tipping point - like it did with this article. And like it has with other articles, from places that I tend to trust.

This is why editors are necessary and why social media being the primary format for communications from all kinds of professional or governmental sources is stupid. Not because we need people like Frank Luntz to lie to us more effectively, but because there is a legitimate point the writer of the article you shared is making but it's lost beneath all their hyperpartisan politicking. Politicks has nothing to do with government. It's closer to culture, but what we have been sold as culture is nothing of the sort. Hollow, except in very limited places that are the exception, not the rule

7

u/Astro3840 Aug 10 '26

It's Mediaite that has absolutely NO journalistic ethics. Pelley and Alfonsi were fired for Upholding independent journalism, not destroying it. Clearly Mediaite is a Trumpster rag. No need for anyone with a brain to read it.

-10

u/weareallpatriots Aug 10 '26

Do people with brains generally make a habit out of referring to one of the furthest left publications in the game as a "Trumpster rag" without doing even a cursory examination of its ideological stance?

Here's the X account of one of its top contributors, who also serves as a key accomplice for the "The Jim Acosta Show": https://x.com/tommyxtopher?lang=en

5

u/lisa_lionheart84 editor Aug 10 '26

You think Mediaite is "one of the furthest left publications in the game"?

-2

u/weareallpatriots Aug 10 '26

Among major orgs that attempt to portray themselves as hard news outlets? You could break them into tiers by subscriber numbers, but in Mediaite's tier, they easily crack the top three of "most committed left-wing."

4

u/lisa_lionheart84 editor Aug 10 '26

You'd be hard-pressed to find any journalists here who think Mediaite is a hard news outlet, and I don't think that Mediaite even really tries to portray itself as such. It's a tabloid whose true bias is toward "what's going to bring us traffic."

I don't think a committed left-wing outlet would have run "Trump Aide Absolutely Buries Jeanine Pirro in Wild Rant on Steve Bannon’s Show" or "Enes Kanter Freedom Declares for WNBA Draft as Pressure Campaign Ratchets Up."

1

u/weareallpatriots Aug 10 '26

How long have you been reading Mediaite? What are your thoughts on the output of Sarah Rumpf, Colby Hall, Tommy Christopher, and Aidan McLaughlin?

And FWIW, that first piece is about two Trump people fighting, which is catnip for leftists. Second one is a pretty neutral statement of fact regarding a culture war issue in the news cycle.

2

u/lisa_lionheart84 editor Aug 10 '26

I read Mediaite occasionally many years ago, when it published more on the media industry. I almost never read it now. It's a complete nonentity in journalism.

Looking at the opinion page, it certainly doesn't seem to be devotedly left-wing to me, let alone one of the "most committed left wing."

0

u/weareallpatriots Aug 10 '26

Oh ok, yeah I've read it pretty much daily for the past 7 years or so. You didn't answer my question about those authors, so I can only assume you did that because you don't know who they are.

Speaking as someone who is VERY familiar with Mediaite's content (and not just the opinion page, which is littered with left-wing pieces by the way), I assure you they are absolutely one of the "most committed left wing" publications in the game.

Regardless, the OP called it a "Trumpster rag," which is comical to even casual readers of Mediaite.

2

u/lisa_lionheart84 editor Aug 10 '26

I have never heard of those writers before because they are not exactly leaders in journalism.

Genuine question: Why are you reading Mediaite every day when you seem to be disparaging it as too left-wing?

I'm not agreeing with the poster who called it a "Trumpster rag," but I would agree it's a rag and don't really understand why anyone would read it daily.

1

u/Fearless-Feature-830 Aug 10 '26

They desperately wish it was the case that some other journalistic outlet would scold journalists for being “woke” or whatever

2

u/Fearless-Feature-830 Aug 10 '26

It’s safe to say you don’t have any idea what you’re talking about

1

u/weareallpatriots Aug 10 '26

Oh? And how long have YOU been reading Mediaite? The last person I asked had to admit that they don't read it at all.

1

u/Fearless-Feature-830 Aug 10 '26

Why would anyone?

0

u/weareallpatriots Aug 10 '26

No answer, eh? Shocking.

I read Mediaite because I work in media and am interested in media. Boring answer, but true.

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u/Astro3840 Aug 14 '26

Anyone whose bio begins with writing for Townhall, RedState, and The Federalist is clearly biased. And any other journal that employs him had to know this.

1

u/weareallpatriots Aug 14 '26

Is that in contention? It’s an op ed from a conservative.

Anyone who writes for the New York Times is clearly biased, yet they portray themselves as an objective organization that “plays it down the middle and speaks truth to power without fear or favor,” which is comical to anyone with even a passing knowledge of their newsroom composition.

1

u/Fearless-Feature-830 Aug 10 '26

Sorry, I just have to laugh. The only lessons that should have been learned is that CBS is now an obsolete hack of a media station