Journo Professor Blames Racism and 'Desperation' For USA Today Writer Caught Faking Sources

P. Gardner Goldsmith | June 19, 2022
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No reporter can be objective. All humans are subjective beings, and all one can ask of reporters is that they try to be fair.

Of course, in 2021, NBC Nightly News host Lester Holt finally admitted what we’ve known for more than half a century: fairness for the pop media news-o-nauts isn’t in the offing.

And virtually anyone who’s gotten a journalism degree or suffered through a college “media” class knows that this mendacious mentality grows from the university roots and the social-justice soil that feeds the whole system. For them, the ends justify the means, so fairness isn’t needed.

And, as we’ve seen from the likes of Brian Williams, Mike Barnicle, and now, in the news that USA Today just scrubbed 23 stories by former reporter Gabriella Miranda for what appear to be utter source fabrications (yet USA Today remains an integral part of Facebook’s “Fact-Check” squad), for many left-oriented news “reporters” it seems as if the ends of achieving some political end or supporting a political narrative justify the means of outright deception.

And the same seems to be the case for “professors” who teach aspiring “journalists.”

According to The College Fix, a Marquette University assistant professor of journalism suggested in a Twitter thread that fabricating stories or being lax with one’s journalistic integrity was acceptable - or, at least, understandable - if one could claim he or she had suffered “racism” or the oppression of high standards.

Thus explained DOCTOR Ayleen Cabas-Mijares (her doctorate is one of philosophy, in “journalism”) in a Twitter thread:

In my few years as a journalism educator, I’ve found that the younglings engage in unethical practices (ie, fabricating quotes, etc.) mostly out of desperation mixed with inexperience. Almost never laziness or nefarious intent.

So, first off, we get to enjoy the cliched puffery of her describing herself as a “journalism educator,” which is about as pleasurable as sitting on a thumbtack, or hearing a person with a doctorate in philosophy/journalism call herself a “doctor.”

And then we can note that her tweet was not merely referring to students, but also to a paid professional, such as the aforementioned Gabriella Miranda from USA Today.

Added Cabas-Mijares:

J-schools (and newsrooms for that matter) are supposed to provide the structure and support necessary for reporters (esp young ones) to face the complexities of journalism and apply rigor every step of the way

And this:

With Miranda we have an early career reporter coming out of one of the most prestigious j-schools in the country and landing in one of the biggest newsrooms. So, how does this happen??

Well, one of the most prevalent reasons someone gets caught for fabricating a story is because…

The reporter made something up.

It’s not an accidental, unintended problem. It’s conducted with intent. It’s fraud. And if you get a sense that this professor might be excusing it, and laying the blame on some kind of “system” that failed the former USA Today hack? You'd be right.

Cabas-Mijares then blamed pressures, including USA Today staffing shortages, for leading to a possible lack in editorial oversight, which kind of skips over the whole “did the reporter make it up?” part.

And she even went so far as to claim that USA Today dumping Miranda was an act of “disloyalty.” Which sounds more like a gangland statement from a mob movie.

To what, one might ask, is USA Today’s editorial team supposed to be loyal: the truth, or the journalist who seems to have fabricated info almost two-dozen times?

Related: Smug Holt Lectures: America's 'Free-Will' to Blame for COVID Deaths | MRCTV

Indeed, as The College Fix notes, Cabas-Mijares appears to side with backing the slick, grab-a-buck pretend-journalist, even as she, Cabas-Mijares, teaches aspiring journalists at Marquette. They observe that this journalism “Doctor” tweeted:

Plug someone like Miranda, a young woman from a minoritized community trying to make it in a big (white) newsroom, and you get a recipe for failure,” Cabas-Mijares wrote.

Do we even know the racial makeup of the newsroom? Is that relevant to truth of falsehood? What does that have to do with anything?

Continues College Fix:

USA Today said the investigation into Miranda began with an “external correction request” several weeks ago. The investigation then broadened to nearly two-dozen stories Miranda had written.

That’s 23 times. What would you do if you had 23 conversations with someone, and he or she appeared to have lied to you each time?

If you were a woke leftist, you might just promote the person who lies, as long as it fits your agenda.

And if you suspect that Ms. Doctor Journalist Doctor Cabalas-Mijares is part of the social justice set, you’re spot-on. According to Marquette, she has a heady background in social movements and media activism, transnational feminism and media, the newly-genderless "Latinx" studies, and journalism studies.

And, as an added bonus, one of her three hard-hitting instances of reporting is "Communication for Social Change: Proposals for Action. Castellón, Spain: UJI Press."

Where, on the same official page, she offers:

Marquette’s focus on moral responsibility and social justice speaks to my own education and ethics as a graduate of a Jesuit school and a critical media scholar. I want to help my students produce journalism that matters, the type of journalism that empowers communities and democracies. I have found that Marquette University possesses the resources and values to provide that kind of education.

Which offer some informative tidbits for those wondering about “Jesuit” schools, social-justice collectivist orthodoxy, and Marquette. Curiously, one of the Ten Commandments says “Thou shalt not bear false witness…”

But for collectivists, there seems to be one commandment: “The ends – i.e. gaining political power over others – justify the means.”

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