Stanford Journalism Prof. Ted Glasser: Journalists Should Be ‘Activists’

Stanford journalism professor Ted Glasser said in a recent interview that journalists should be activists that promote “social justice” values. On Friday, 60 Minutes correspondent Wesley Lowery promoted the idea that journalists should abandon the word “objective” in regards to their reporting.

According to a report by Campus Reform, Stanford journalism professor Ted Glasser argued recently that journalists should use their platform to promote “social justice.” Glasser claimed that the notion of “objectivity” prevents journalists from his preferred form of advocacy journalism.

“Journalists need to be overt and candid advocates for social justice, and it’s hard to do that under the constraints of objectivity,” Glasser said in an interview with the Stanford student newspaper. Glasser added, “I like to view journalists as activists because journalism at its best — and indeed history at its best — is all about morality.”

60 Minutes correspondent Wesley Lowery echoed Glasser’s claims in a tweet published on Friday when he shared an article about that claimed that activist journalists can have a positive impact on society.

“Objectivity and journalism — over the last century, these two words have become inextricably linked,” the article reads. “But striving for objectivity has actually hindered us from adequately covering truth, giving context and achieving equity.”

Stanford Communications Professor Fred Turner does not subscribe to the notion that journalists should abandon objectivity. Turner argued that objective reporting on injustices often leads to social change.

“Each time people see one of these killings or see the protests,” Turner said in a short comment, “it stops being a purely local matter and becomes a matter of public concern, and then it becomes something that we can all take action on.”

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more campus updates.