By Ken Stone

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Todd Gitlin of the Columbia Journalism School has listed 168 journalism professors, professionals and academics who joined him in signing an open letter to the owners of Fox News, critical of the cable network’s coronavirus coverage and urging it to stop spreading “misinformation.”

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UC San Diego is listed once — with Daniel C. Hallin a signatory. But among the others is Columbia’s Michael Schudson, who taught at UC San Diego from 1980 to 2009.

“The misinformation that reaches the Fox News audience is a danger to public health,” the professors wrote Rupert Murdoch and Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch on April 1. “Indeed, it is not an overstatement to say that your misreporting endangers your own viewers — and not only them, for in a pandemic, individual behavior affects significant numbers of other people as well.

“Yet by commission as well as omission — direct, uncontested misinformation as well as failure to report the true dimensions of the crisis — Fox News has been derelict in its duty to provide clear and accurate information about COVID-19.”

Via email, Gitlin told Times of San Diego that he was in the process of “getting the whole thing onto Medium” after a note on the letter was first posted April 1 by CNN’s Oliver Darcy on Twitter.

(The Medium version of the letter was posted April 3.)

“I got the initial signatories and sent the letter with the sign-up link to folks I know at J-schools around the country,” wrote Gitlin, who said he was forwarding the letter to Project Democracy for the Medium posting.

UCSD’s Hallin said his most recent book is about news coverage of health and medicine, so coverage of the pandemic was something he has been following closely.

“In a crisis like this, I think media absolutely have a responsibility to put the good of the community first, and, in the case of a public health crisis, to respect the expertise of scientists and public health officials,” he said April 8 via email. “Fox has a very hard time putting aside politics and the culture wars, and it’s dangerous to the community.”

Hallin, who probably learned about the letter from a Gitlin tweet, added: “I think we’re really seeing now why the shift toward a post-truth culture and the idea that information is just a weapon of politics is dangerous, why we need some degree of trust and respect for truth, and also some sense that we’re all one community in the end.”

According to Schudson’s biography, from 2005 on, he split his teaching between UCSD and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, becoming a full-time member of the New York school’s faculty in 2009.

A one-time MacArthur Foundation “genius” fellow, Schudson has written for The San Diego Union-Tribune. His recent books include “The Rise of the Right to Know: Politics and the Culture of Transparency 1945-1975” (Harvard, 2015) and (with C.W. Anderson and Leonard Downie Jr.) “The News Media: What Everyone Needs to Know” (Oxford, 2016).

For his part, Gitlin said he frequently attended meetings at UC San Diego when he lived in the Bay Area between 1968 and 1994.

Gitlin is chair of the Ph.D. program in communications at Columbia Journalism School. A noted sociologist, he was among authors attending the San Diego Jewish Book Fair in La Jolla in November 2010.

Besides himself, he listed as co-signers these journalism professors, including retirees:

Mark Feldstein, Eaton Chair of Broadcast Journalism, University of Maryland

Frances FitzGerald, Pulitzer Prize-winning author

Adam Hochschild, Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley

Edward Wasserman, Dean, Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley

Lisa R. Cohen, Columbia Journalism School

Gerald Johnson, Texas Student Media

Susan Moeller, Professor, Merrill College of Journalism, UMD, College Park

Maurine Beasley, University of Maryland College Park

Michael Deas, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University

Ivan Meyers, Medill School at Northwestern University

Helen Benedict, Professor, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University

Hendrik Hertzberg, longtime staff writer and editor, The New Yorker

Lewis Friedland, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Com, UW-Madison

Dr. Tom Mascaro, Ph.D. Bowling Green State University, School of Media & Communication

Tom Bettag, Visiting Fellow, University of Maryland

Betty H Winfield University of Missouri Curators’ Professor Emerita

Frank D. Durham, University of Iowa

Dennis Darling, Professor, School of Journalism, The University of Texas at Austin

Jonathan Weiner, Maxwell M. Geffen Professor of Medical and Scientific Journalism Columbia Journalism School

Ari L. Goldman, professor, Columba University Graduate School of Journalism

Jennifer Kahn, Narrative Program Lead, Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley

Meenakshi Gigi Durham, Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Iowa

Deirdre English, Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley

Rosental C. Alves, University of Texas at Austin

Pauline Dakin, Assistant Professor, University of King’s College, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Nina Alvarez, Assistant Professor, Columbia Journalism School

Travis Vogan, University of Iowa

Ali Noor Mohamed, United Arab Emirates University

Linda Steiner, Acting Director, Ph.D. Studies; Professor, Phillip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park

Lucas Graves, School of Journalism & Mass Communication, UW Madison

Anna Everett, Professor Emeritus, University of California at Santa Barbara

Richard Appelbaum, Fielding Graduate University, UC Santa Barbara Emeritus

Tom Collinger, Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism

Wenhong Chen, Founding Co-director, Center for Entertainment and Media Industries Associate Professor of Media Studies and Sociology, Moody College of Communication, the University of Texas at Austin

LynNell Hancock, Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Donna DeCesare, Associate Professor, School of Journalism, University of Texas at Austin

Barbie Zelizer, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

Michael Murray, UM Curators Distinguished Professor Emeritus, UM-St. Louis

Michael Schudson, Columbia University

Martin Kaplan, Norman Lear Chair in Entertainment, Media and Society, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

Brian Ekdale, University of Iowa

Gina Masullo, University of Texas at Austin

Krishnan Vasudevan, Assistant Professor, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland at College Park

Harold Evans, former editor Sunday Times and The Times, London

Chuck Howell, Librarian for Journalism & Communication Studies, University of Maryland

Clarke L. Caywood, Ph.D, Professor Medill School of Journalism Media Integrated Marketing Communications

Andie Tucher, Director, PhD program in Communications, Columbia Journalism School

Kalyani Chadha, Associate Professor, University of Maryland

Denis P. Gorman, Freelance Journalist

Jon Marshall, Northwestern University

Kevin Lerner, Marist College

Joel Whitebook, Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research

Abe Peck, Prof. Emeritus in Service, Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, Northwestern University

Carrie Lozano, Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley

Susie Linfield, Dept. of Journalism, New York University

Charles Berret, University of British Columbia

Jay Rosen, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, New York University

Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, Professor of Journalism, The University of Texas at Austin

Joseph Straubhaar, Professor, School of Journalism, University of Texas, Austin

Edward C Malthouse, Haven Professor, Medill School of Journalism, Media and IMC, Northwestern University

Mitchell Stephens, Professor of Journalism, New York University

Patricia Loew, Ph.D. Professor, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University

Richard Fine, Professor of English, Virginia Commonwealth University

John E. Newhagen Associate Prof. Emeritus University of Marylans

Caryn Ward, Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing and Communication

David Hajdu, Professor, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism

Naeemul Hassan, Assistant Professor, University of Maryland

Stephen D. Reese, School of Journalism & Media, University of Texas at Austin

Kevin Klose, Professor, University of Maryland

John Vivian, Winona State University

Sue Robinson, Helen Firstbrook Franklin Professor of Journalism, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Thomas P. Oates, University of Iowa

Samuel Freedman, Columbia Journalism School

Susan Mango Curtis, Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism

Robert S. Boynton, Professor, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at NYU

Leonard Steinhorn, Professor of Communication and Affiliate Professor of History, American University

J.A. Adande, Medill School, Northwestern

Victor Pickard, University of Pennsylvania

Summer Harlow, Assistant Professor, University of Houston

Danielle K. Kilgo, Ph.D., Indiana University

Jack Doppelt, Northwestern University

Gerry Lanosga, The Media School, Indiana University

Martin Riedl, PhD Candidate, School of Journalism, The University of Texas at Austin

Rich Shumate, School of Media, Western Kentucky University

Mac McKerral, School of Media, Western Kentucky University

Mel Coffee, University of Maryland

David J. Vergobbi, University of Utah

Tom Boll, part-time instructor, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University

Dannagal G. Young, Associate Professor of Communication and Political Science, University of Delaware

Ken Light, Reva and David Logan Professor of Photojournalism, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

George Harmon, emeritus faculty, Medill School of Journalism

Rachel Young, University of Iowa

Carol M. Liebler, Professor, Newhouse School, Syracuse University

Kyu Ho Youm, University of Oregon

Julianne H Newton, University of Oregon

Bethany Swain, University of Maryland

Gi Woong Yun, Reynolds School of Journalism, University of Nevada, Reno

Thomas E. Winski, MJE Retired Assistant Professor of Journalism, Emporia State University

Roy L Moore, Professor (retired), Middle TN State University

Ira Chinoy, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland

Jay Edwin Gillette, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Information and Communication Sciences Center for Information and Communication Sciences, Ball State University

Michael Anderson, retired journalist

Kimberley Shoaf, Professor of Public Health, University of Utah

Erica Ciszek, University of Texas at Austin

Daniel C. Hallin, University of California at San Diego

Keith W. Strandberg, Webster University, Geneva

Sophie Furley, Editor

Frank Sesno, Director, George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs

Timothy V. Klein, Louisiana State University

James R. Laubach Jr., retired former Editor of The (Bethlehem, PA) Globe-Times

Victoria Smith Ekstrand, UNC-Chapel Hill

Rachael L. Jones, Esq., Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida College of Journalism of Communications

Kyla P. Garrett Wagner, Assistant Professor, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University

Kyla P. Garrett Wagner, Assistant Professor, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University

Janet Steele, School of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University

Todd Brewster, Mount Holyoke College

Marwan M. Kraidy, University of Pennsylvania

Francois Heinderyckx, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Ron Thomas, Director, Journalism and Sports Program, Morehouse College

Herman Gray, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, UC Santa Cruz

Rob Reuteman, Colorado State University

Brett G. Johnson, University of Missouri

Barbara Selvin, Stony Brook University School of Journalism

Jonathan Sanders School of Journalism Stony Brook University

Mary Douglas Vavrus, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies, University of Minnesota

Seung-Hwan Mun, Northeastern Illinois University

Richard Ricioppo, Stony Brook University School of Journalism

Robert P. Hawkins, Maier-Bascom Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin — Madison

Suzanne Pingree, Professor emerita of Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison

David W. Park, Lake Forest College

Jean Folkerts, Former Dean and Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Hussman School of Journalism and Media, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

William E Aydelott, President, Waverly Motion Pictures

Alberto L. García, Lecturer. Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Mon Rodriguez, Sheffield Hallam University

Seth Lewis, Shirley Papé Chair in Emerging Media, University of Oregon

Richard Maxwell, Queens College CUNY

Gino Canella, Assistant Professor, Emerson College

Josh Watson, Associate Professor of Communication, Oklahoma Christian University

Jeffrey Layne Blevins, Head of Journalism, University of Cincinnati

Ezequiel Korin, Reynolds School of Journalism — University of Nevada, Reno

Howard W. French, Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Justin C.Blankenship, Assistant Professor, School of Communication and Journalism, Auburn University

Jeremiah Horrigan, adjunct instructor, Marist College

Jerry Berger, Boston University School of Journalism

Carol Zuegner, Associate professor of journalism, Chair and Joella Cohen Endowed Chair of Journalism, Creighton University

Patrick Dougherty, former executive editor, Anchorage Daily News

Michael Balter, Adjunct Lecturer (Journalism), City College of New York

Harold O Castleman, former Sports Editor, The Franklin News-Post

Kay Bell, freelance journalist

Milbert O. Brown, Jr., Washington Adventist University

Kathleen A. Hansen, Professor Emerita, Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Aaron Veenstra, Associate Professor, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies, Florida Atlantic University

David Swartzlander, associate professor of practice in journalism, Doane University

Damon Kiesow, Knight Chair, Missouri School of Journalism

David Carroll, associate professor of media design, Parson School of Design, The New School

Jan-Werner Mueller, Department of Politics, Princeton University

Mike Elgan, Fast Company and IDG

Maer Roshan, Editor in Chief, Los Angeles Magazine

Karl Idsvoog, Kent State University

Matt Jordan, Assoc. Professor, Department of Media Studies, Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, Penn State University

Michael A. Stusser, Seattle Weekly

Rhon Teruelle, Purdue University NW

Shane Snow, Snow Media

Mara Einstein, Professor & Chair, Media Studies, Queens College (CUNY)

Serhatcan Yurdam, Research Assistant, Department of Journalism, Faculty of Communication, Ege University

Stu Nicholson, Retired Broadcast Journalist

And Patricia A. Joseph, Retired Professor, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania

The 660-word letter concluded: “The basic purpose of news organizations is to discover and tell the truth. This is especially necessary, and obvious, amid a public health crisis. Television bears a particular responsibility because even more millions than usual look there for reliable information.

“Inexcusably, Fox News has violated elementary canons of journalism. In so doing, it has contributed to the spread of a grave pandemic. Urgently, therefore, in the name of both good journalism and public health, we call upon you to help protect the lives of all Americans —including your elderly viewers — by ensuring that the information you deliver is based on scientific facts.”

Hannity told Newsweek on Thursday that his website provided “irrefutable evidence” that he took the matter seriously “way before most in the media did.”

“I warned in January that it was dangerous because it was highly contagious, but some people were asymptomatic, so it would spread quickly,” he said.

Did he call coronavirus a hoax?

“It’s the same Democrats, media mob and liberal professors who are so lazy they won’t even look at what I’ve said about the virus,” Hannity said. “They just go with their narrative. I never called it a ‘hoax.’ I said it was a hoax for them to be using it as a bludgeon on Trump. And they are. Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi are talking about an investigation. Now? In the middle of a pandemic?”

Hannity declined to comment on Regan’s remarks, saying “I’m responsible for me and I don’t talk about other hosts. I wish everybody success in their career.”

The San Diego Jewish Book Fair citation for Gitlin called him a New Left activist who has never been afraid of controversy. (He was president of Students for a Democratic Society in the early 1960s).

“His latest book examines the U.S.-Israel relationship,” it said. “Although the countries share clear strategic interests, Gitlin claims they also share a raison d’etre: both nations exist as Chosen Peoples entrusted to deliver an enlightened message to a dark and troubled world.”

His book was “The Chosen Peoples: America, Israel and the Ordeals of Divine Election.”

Schudson, the former UCSD professor, was profiled in the San Diego Reader in 1996.

“Whenever there’s some form of conventional wisdom,” Schudson told Joel Drucker, “my tendency is to say, ‘Wait a minute, what makes you think that? How come?’ I get angry when people are thickheaded, when they claim understandings of the world that they don’t really know.”

Updated at 9:28 p.m. April 8, 2020

Former, Current UCSD Journalism Profs Among 168 Lashing Fox News in Letter was last modified: by

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