I can't really blame the Scripps School of Journalism for accepting a large donation from
Roger Ailes, Fox News' CEO. Think about it. Ailes is a bad guy and a
disgrace to the journalistic profession. Therefore he is likely to
spend his money on equally disgraceful organizations. By donating to
Scripps, money that would otherwise be spent supporting nefarious
operations is being diverted towards a legitimate journalism school.
Isn't that therefore an overall plus for the journalism profession?
The real problem comes from naming the new newsroom after Ailes. Doing
so reinforces the idea that what he does is journalism as well as
sullies Scripps' good reputation with his very bad reputation. In the end the university decided that having a high-tech newsroom would help OU's
reputation more than the fact that it was named after a journalistic
disgrace would hurt it. I think that was a good call. The name of the
newsroom will be forgotten or largely ignored in years to come, at
which point the newsroom will still be paying dividends.
Check out the journalism school director's [url=../../Articles/Opinion/Your%20Turn/2008/04/28/24126/]awkward defense[/url] of the decision and his thorough owning in the comments section.
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Graham Bowman
