11 December 2018

Dr. Sarah Kendzior on the betrayal of the public by conservative media





Very powerful comment. The video is not close-captioned but I did my best to transcribe her remarkable condemnation of hate rhetoric:

I do think it matters what your editorial make up is. And I think if our media wasn’t dominated by white men that you might see different coverage; different concerns being emphasized. But I think the most important thing is what is the result of this coverage? It doesn’t matter who is working there if you put out anti-semitic content, anti-muslim content, anti-black content, conspiracy theories — things that lead to actual hate crimes; things that lead to physical assault; things that lead to kids getting bullied in school right now as a result of this rhetoric. Whether you say you are just kidding; whether you say someone of this ethnicity works there —-that doesn’t matter. What matters is who gets hurt. The obligation of the journalist is to serve the public. The obligation of the politician is to serve the public. And the public is not getting served. The public is being served conspiracy theories and hate rhetoric. And this leads to actual repercussions that are terrible for our democracy and hurt people badly. I don’t think journalists are doing their job or standing up for the most vulnerable citizens which is absolutely what their priorities should be. 
—Dr. Sarah Kendzior

2020 UPDATE: Dr. Kendzior has released a must-read book!












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