In the wake of a whistleblower resigning (translation: being pushed in front of a bus) from the University of North Carolina, one political observer provides a revealing look at the mindset of the “progressive” side. It’s in a blog post by Gary Pearce, a former N&O reporter and a longtime aide, and “unabashed fan,” of ex-Gov. Jim Hunt, a progressive Democrat.
The blog post complains, about the news coverage of the academic scandal:
Some true-blue Heels will tell you this is all a vendetta by The News & Observer. Some of my fellow Wolfpackers – who haven’t gotten over the N&O’s pursuit of Jim Valvano – are loving it. I’m not. The university is a big part of why North Carolina has long been a progressive state. And the J School is a veritable well that waters the state with aggressive, progressive journalism. Now, two of those great progressive institutions – the university and the N&O – are at war. Can’t somebody negotiate a truce here?
Let’s look at some of the revelations here, some perhaps revealed unwittingly.
You’d think that the state’s most lauded public university and one of its leading news sources would be dedicated to providing objective, reliable information to all segments of the public. But this blog post lets the cat out of the bag: UNC and the N&O have for some time been dedicated to furthering progressive ideology. The university and the newspaper instead of providing education and news have been peddling propaganda and indoctrination.
It’s especially damning to think that “the J School is a veritable well that waters the state with aggressive, progressive journalism.” As the Carolina Plott Hound website noted, that simply acknowledges the obvious. Back in the day, journalism meant the craft of trying to present a reasonably fair picture of the news. But at UNC, the J School has dedicated itself to training young people in the dark art of slanting the news to the progressive side. And by implication, the N&O is on the same side.
You’d think Tar Heel liberals would run shrieking from the “progressive” label. In the crucial last years of the 19th century, and the early decades of the 20th, the N&O was run by one of the state’s most powerful figures, Josephus Daniels. He was an avowed progressive – and a white supremacist. (See NC State professor Lee Craig’s biography of Daniels.) He and the other progressive leaders ran the White Supremacy campaign of 1898 that trampled on the rights of black people, and ushered in decades of segregation.
Our most recent Civitas Review magazine lays out the whole sordid story; call us at 919-834-2099 and ask about getting a copy.
As for those bastions of progressivism, it’s hardly the case that the N&O and UNC are at war. This is too juicy a story for the newspaper to ignore if it is to maintain even a veneer of being a news outlet. Also, bashing sports is an item on the progressive agenda.
So any conflict between these “great progressive institutions” will be short-lived. Probably the progressives involved figure it will blow over soon, and they can go on with their respective missions. But for one moment, anyway, the truth has been acknowledged: the N&O and the UNC J School are tools of the progressive agenda.
Josephus Daniels would be proud.
I’m from out of state and never heard of the N&O. Most people not from here have not as well. Everyone has heard of UNC. Enough said.
I have mixed feelings about the “War Between UNC and the N&O”. It seems the N&O is picking at a scab trying to heal but when the chancellor forces out a whistleblower, the wound just doesn’t heal. Now as to the J-school, I don’t remember Ken Byerley teaching “Slanting the news 101” to me when I got my degree in 1969. Nor does my son who got his journalism degree in 2008. Even if some students come out of school with preconceived notions of news coverage, we have editors that quickly guide them to the way of truth and light . . . or out the door.