Killing the Messenger
The oldest story in journalism
A recent article in the Washington Post, “Online mobs are now coming for student journalists,” tells the story a young reporter at the University of Arizona who was targeted for abuse after publishing a critical profile of a fellow student’s TikTok posts.
The student journalist received thousands of hateful messages including death threats from fans of the TikTokker. They came in to her cellphone and were scary enough that she no longer feels safe walking across campus.
The article notes that harassment of student journalists across the country appears to have reached new levels in the age of social media.
I’m sure this is probably true. But it is also the case that the best young journalists just starting out their careers on campus newspapers have always been vulnerable to threats and harassment. Well over 50 years ago now, my closest colleagues on the Michigan Daily were the targets of abuse after publishing an expose of the University of Michigan’s athletic department.
Their investigation led to the first-ever NCAA probe of the university’s practices, a major embarrassment at the time.
The point is that when journalists of any age do our jobs well we act as watchdogs on power, and we often are on the front line of exposing potential abuses of power, whether by institutions or individuals. This work often angers others and the consequences often include threats and harassment. You get used to it over the course of a career, but that doesn’t make it justifiable.
What happened to the reporter in Arizona is unacceptable. University officials should have spoken out forcefully against it much earlier than they did. Young journalists in particular need to be protected and encouraged to stay with the profession despite its risks and hazards.
But what happened in that case is not an exception but the rule — large elements of society continue to kill the messenger ( or at least threaten to kill her) when she is the bearer of bad news.
And bad news is mostly what journalists have to offer when we are doing our job well. In fact that is what’s protected under the concept known as Freedom of the Press.
NEWSLINKS:
COP27 delivers climate fund breakthrough at cost of progress on emissions (Reuters)
U.N. negotiators reach deal to help vulnerable nations with climate disasters (WP)
COP27: Climate costs deal struck but no fossil fuel progress (BBC)
Ex-Twitter employees are horrified by Elon Musk reinstating Donald Trump’s account: ‘Incredibly upsetting’ (Fortune)
Biden, turning 80, faces an age-old question: How old is too old to be president? (NPR)
Trump won’t magically disappear. Republicans will have to purge him. (WP)
‘It’s on the tape’: Bob Woodward on Donald Trump’s ‘criminal behavior’ (Guardian)
Cigars, Booze, Money: How a Lobbying Blitz Made Sports Betting Ubiquitous (NYT)
U.S. lawmakers to foreign allies: Midterm results show our democracy is safe (Politico)
Nancy Pelosi was really, really good at her job (Vox)
Despite dangerous pregnancy complications, abortions denied (AP)
There have been more than 600 mass shootings so far this year (WP)
Stressed-Out Americans Plan to Buy Fewer Christmas Gifts, Donate Less to Charity (WSJ)
The tilt in our stars: The shape of the Milky Way's halo of stars is realized (Phys.org)
VIDEO: EarthCam Video Shows Meteor Flying Over Toronto (EarthCam)
College football winners and losers: Kickers save TCU and Michigan (WP)
World Cup gets underway with stakes high for host Qatar (Reuters)
Man Uses Weekend To Make Totally Different Mistakes Than He Did During Workweek (The Onion)
I'm lucky I got my degree before there was TikTok.