Student Journalist Told To Resign from Management Position After Jacob Blake Tweet
By Michael Austin
Published September 2, 2020 at 2:26pm
The board of directors of Blaze Radio at Arizona State University announced Monday it had voted to remove the station manager, student broadcaster Rae’Lee Klein, from her position for sharing important facts about the Aug. 23 police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
A viral video showed Blake, who is black, being shot in the back seven times by a white officer after he resisted arrest and attempted to get into his car. The Wisconsin Department of Justice later issued a statement saying two tasers had been deployed but failed to stop the 29-year-old suspect, and a knife was found on the floorboard where he reached into the vehicle.
Klein shared a New York Post story revealing that Blake was wanted in connection with three charges filed last month in relation to an alleged sexual assault against the very woman who had called police shortly before the shooting occurred.
Along with her since-deleted tweet sharing the article, Klein wrote, “Always more to the story, folks. Please read this article to get the background of Jacob Blake’s warrant. You’ll be quite disgusted.”
Run by ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Blaze Radio made the decision to vote for Klein’s removal following a flurry of social media backlash to her tweet.
Klein spoke with The Western Journal about the ongoing controversy and how it reflects on the current state of journalism.
She began by explaining how the events had transpired from her point of view.
“The tweet absolutely blew up and people were super, super upset. They said that I was racist, that I was insensitive and that essentially I wasn’t fit to lead in this role any longer,” Klein said.
“The board, at first, was very supportive, helped me write statements, was really trying to save the face of Blaze radio,” she said. “And then, in a matter of six hours, they all decided to call for my resignation as well.
“And then people on the staff of the Cronkite School, who oversee the functioning of Blaze radio, present and former, said that because I am a white woman who was raised in Wyoming and did pageants, I have no room to comment about stuff like this, and that the tweet was too, quote, like too Fox News-y and that all the backlash and mob mentality I was getting for it was justified and I should just step down.”
Klein is not resigning, and according to her, although the board voted for her removal, it doesn’t have the authority to follow through. In the end, it will be up to the school dean to decide whether she is forced to leave her post.
No matter what happens, however, Klein’s reputation has been thoroughly tarnished. Several students from the Cronkite School have condemned the journalist as a “racist” for sharing the contextual information about Jacob Blake.
For example, the student group Walter Cronkite College Council described Klein’s tweet as “factually misleading, discriminatory and racist,” adding that it “has potentially caused the harm and exclusion of students of color, specifically Black students.”
“This isn’t the first time that I’ve been called a racist for sharing information that I find relevant, and unfortunately, with these issues being so sensitive, no matter which way you lean you’re going to be called a racist no matter what you are, you’re wrong one way or another, and you can’t appease everybody,” Klein said in response to the accusations.
“There’s always going to be a group upset,” she said, “and it’s not an easy pill to swallow, but it doesn’t take away from my belief that the truth needs to be told.”
When it comes to stories like the Jacob Blake shooting, many media outlets are quick to rush to judgment before all the facts come out. For Klein, being right and delivering the truth is much more important than being the first to break a story.
“They call me out on hurting the industry, but they’re inherently the ones doing it because they’re trying to censor which truth gets out, and just because it may be hard to hear doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be told,” Klein said.
“I think a lot of different news outlets, unfortunately, they pick and choose which stories that they want to tell that fits their audience and they run it like a business, and that’s not what journalism is supposed to be.”
“I’m a patriot first and a journalist second,” she said. “I will never turn my back on the people that I work for.”
https://www.westernjournal.com/student- ... UKUeS_3CZk
Student Journalist Told To Resign from Management Position After Jacob Blake Tweet
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Jim Mathias
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Re: Student Journalist Told To Resign from Management Position After Jacob Blake Tweet
She neither apologized nor grovelled!
That's the best part of this story.
That's the best part of this story.
Activism materials available! ===> Contact me via PM to obtain quantities of the "Send Them Back", "NA Health Warning #1 +#2+#3" stickers, and any fliers listed in the Alliance website's flier webpage.
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Benjamin Bice
Re: Student Journalist Told To Resign from Management Position After Jacob Blake Tweet
School Forces Conservative Journalism Student Out, Refuses To Say What Rules She Broke
By Michael Austin
Published September 17, 2020 at 5:42pm
A recently released email has confirmed that Rae’Lee Klein, a student journalist and station manager for an Arizona State University radio station, has been removed from her post for sharing a New York Post article detailing the arrest warrant for Jacob Blake.
A viral video showed Blake, the black man shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 23, being shot in the back seven times after he resisted arrest and attempted to get into his car against police orders. The Wisconsin Department of Justice later issued a statement confirming two tasers had been deployed but failed to stop the 29-year-old suspect. A knife was found on the floorboard near where he reached into the vehicle.
The story Klein shared revealed that Blake was wanted in connection with three charges filed last month in relation to an alleged sexual assault against the very woman who had called police shortly before the shooting occurred.
In the caption of her tweet, Klein made it clear that she was sharing what she believed to be important context to the shooting. “Always more to the story, folks. Please read this article to get the background of Jacob Blake’s warrant. You’ll be quite disgusted.”
Kristin Gilger, the interim dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU, gave Klein three options regarding her removal: “reassignment to another student worker position,” “remain on the board with the assignment I outlined” or “start your own station,” according to emails obtained by Campus Reform.
“I’m not surprised, like I’ve said in previous interviews, it was just waiting for the day that the shoe would fall, that I would be removed,” Klein told The Western Journal.
“I’m disappointed that I wasn’t told under what statutes I’m being removed under.”
Although no one told Klein what rules she had broken at the time, she was later informed by the dean that she had broken a “social media guideline” about “not having opinions.”
“I just still feel that I’m not being held to the same standard as all my other peers and the fact that they didn’t provide me with that information until after I was already removed and the fact that it stands as a guideline and not an actually written rule is just even further disappointing.”
Klein then addressed the fact that the Walter Cronkite College Council had previously called the tweet “factually misleading, discriminatory and racist,” without providing any evidence as to how Klein’s tweet, or the police records shared in the New York Post story, could have possibly been misleading.
“It’s disappointing again because what I tweeted was a fact that has been proven by some state police reports. The fact is there is always more to a story. There’s multiple angles and there can be two truths that don’t necessarily align, but it doesn’t make either one of them less important,” Klein told The Western Journal.
“And the fact that they haven’t really been able to refute that just further proves that it’s a truth. I think it’s very evident of how some journalists, institutions and individuals really kind of pick and choose what truths are told to fit a bigger, broader agenda.
“From my understanding of what a journalist is, we know our job is not to pick and choose which truths are told.”
Klein finished her comments off by explaining why she thinks all this drama started in the first place.
“I think the whole reason behind all of this is that it just was a hard truth that didn’t fit an agenda. And that’s why the backlash has been so bad,” Klein explained.
The Western Journal reached out to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
https://www.westernjournal.com/school-f ... 59B3TDpBac
By Michael Austin
Published September 17, 2020 at 5:42pm
A recently released email has confirmed that Rae’Lee Klein, a student journalist and station manager for an Arizona State University radio station, has been removed from her post for sharing a New York Post article detailing the arrest warrant for Jacob Blake.
A viral video showed Blake, the black man shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 23, being shot in the back seven times after he resisted arrest and attempted to get into his car against police orders. The Wisconsin Department of Justice later issued a statement confirming two tasers had been deployed but failed to stop the 29-year-old suspect. A knife was found on the floorboard near where he reached into the vehicle.
The story Klein shared revealed that Blake was wanted in connection with three charges filed last month in relation to an alleged sexual assault against the very woman who had called police shortly before the shooting occurred.
In the caption of her tweet, Klein made it clear that she was sharing what she believed to be important context to the shooting. “Always more to the story, folks. Please read this article to get the background of Jacob Blake’s warrant. You’ll be quite disgusted.”
Kristin Gilger, the interim dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU, gave Klein three options regarding her removal: “reassignment to another student worker position,” “remain on the board with the assignment I outlined” or “start your own station,” according to emails obtained by Campus Reform.
“I’m not surprised, like I’ve said in previous interviews, it was just waiting for the day that the shoe would fall, that I would be removed,” Klein told The Western Journal.
“I’m disappointed that I wasn’t told under what statutes I’m being removed under.”
Although no one told Klein what rules she had broken at the time, she was later informed by the dean that she had broken a “social media guideline” about “not having opinions.”
“I just still feel that I’m not being held to the same standard as all my other peers and the fact that they didn’t provide me with that information until after I was already removed and the fact that it stands as a guideline and not an actually written rule is just even further disappointing.”
Klein then addressed the fact that the Walter Cronkite College Council had previously called the tweet “factually misleading, discriminatory and racist,” without providing any evidence as to how Klein’s tweet, or the police records shared in the New York Post story, could have possibly been misleading.
“It’s disappointing again because what I tweeted was a fact that has been proven by some state police reports. The fact is there is always more to a story. There’s multiple angles and there can be two truths that don’t necessarily align, but it doesn’t make either one of them less important,” Klein told The Western Journal.
“And the fact that they haven’t really been able to refute that just further proves that it’s a truth. I think it’s very evident of how some journalists, institutions and individuals really kind of pick and choose what truths are told to fit a bigger, broader agenda.
“From my understanding of what a journalist is, we know our job is not to pick and choose which truths are told.”
Klein finished her comments off by explaining why she thinks all this drama started in the first place.
“I think the whole reason behind all of this is that it just was a hard truth that didn’t fit an agenda. And that’s why the backlash has been so bad,” Klein explained.
The Western Journal reached out to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
https://www.westernjournal.com/school-f ... 59B3TDpBac