Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Colleges and Universities: Teaching The Censorship by Doing It

On some campuses, says a Student Press Law Center article, a “shifting power dynamic has allowed college PR offices to deceptively spin stories, masquerade as news, deny student reporters access to sources, and infringe on student media’s editorial independence.”
The author, Samuel Breslow, brought the 2018 article to my attention after a discussion on “Censorship by PIO,” at a recent Society of Professional Journalists D.C. chapter event.

Looking at incidents over past years, the piece says many schools have taken to routing interview requests for staff through the PR office, with the PR officials sometimes sitting in on and recording interviews by student reporters.

The article, which looks at incidents and reporting from several schools, says, “Sometimes universities try to prevent interviews from taking place at all.”

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