The Media Should Be Biased—Against Authoritarianism
The media have a powerful role in democracy, even if that often does not recognize, says Kathy Roberts Forde, a journalism historian who teaches at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. As she explained in a recent episode of TNR Right now with Perry Bacon, In the Jim Crow era, many newspapers belonging to whites in the south helped to legitimize and anchor Jim Crow, while black newspapers and journalists told Lynchings stories. In the 1950s and 60s, black journalists detailed the horrors of segregation and covered favorably the civil rights movement, helping to lead points of sale belonging to whites to do the same. Forde argues that today’s Republican Party uses some of the authoritarian tactics that were employed in the South American in the 20th century and by autocratic leaders abroad today. She therefore maintains that journalists can and should establish these links, even if it leads the Republicans to attack them as biased. Ford, who is also dean of inclusion and equity, condemned the recent reaction against diversity efforts. She explained her new initiative organizing students and teachers to defend herself against attacks by the Trump administration against higher education. You can watch this episode here.
