Courtney C. Radsch for PS Say More

The PS Say More Newsletter | [View this message in a web browser]( [PS Say More]( Welcome to Say More, a weekly newsletter offering readers exclusive insights into the ideas, interests, and personalities of some of the world’s leading thinkers. In each issue, a Project Syndicate contributor is invited to expand on topics covered in their commentaries, address new issues, and share recommendations about everything from books and recordings to hobbies and social media. This week, PS talks with Courtney C. Radsch, Advocacy Director at the Committee to Protect Journalists. Read the full interview [here](. Courtney C. Radsch Says More… Project Syndicate[Courtney C. Radsch]( In your latest PS commentary, you [condemn]( the police who have “assaulted, arrested, and shot at” journalists covering the unfolding protests against systemic racism and police brutality in the United States. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota has since filed a class-action [lawsuit]( on behalf of journalists who were targeted and attacked by police while covering the protests there. To what extent can this or similar lawsuits provide “swift and meaningful accountability”? Courtney C. Radsch: Lawsuits are a crucial tool in the effort to hold police accountable for violence against journalists covering the historic protests now underway. They can lead to concrete changes in law and practice, and set new precedents clarifying what is and is not acceptable behavior in a democracy. The ACLU’s lawsuit can do all of that, and deterring police from using violence against journalists in the future undoubtedly amounts to meaningful accountability. But lawsuits are rarely swift. That is why other, more immediate steps must be taken to identify and punish violent officers, and to ensure that crowd-control tactics do not end up harming journalists (or protesters, for that matter). Law-enforcement officers need appropriate training, vetting, and support, so that they fulfill their obligation to uphold the law, including the rights enshrined in the US Constitution’s First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech and of the press, and the right of the people peaceably to assemble. Journalists must be able to report freely on events, without fear of injury or reprisal. PS: Some of the US police attacks against journalists, you note, appear to have been racially motivated. You also recently [retweeted]( a thread in which journalists of color discuss the racism and discrimination they’ve faced in newsrooms. How should journalists and editors, whether in the US or elsewhere, confront their own profession’s institutionalized biases? CCR: As a media scholar, I’ve been thinking a lot about structural racism in journalism, especially lately. I think about journalism as the twentieth-century French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu did: as a “field of practice” comprising practices, values, norms, and subject positions that, in many cases, reify the status quo. That includes replicating systemic bias and inequality. A good example is the view that the professional norm of objectivity requires a journalist to get “both sides” of a story, even if one side is racist, misogynistic, scientifically unsound, or otherwise dangerous. Just recently, the New York Times, in the interest of impartiality, published an op-ed by a US senator calling for a military response to the protests. In this case, the decision sparked a [powerful backlash]( forcing the Times’ opinion editor to resign. But similar decisions are made all the time in newsrooms. This is emblematic of another problem: that the views of those who already hold power are inherently “newsworthy,” so a platform is always available to them. By contrast, those who are attempting to challenge the status quo must struggle to gain visibility. This reinforces historic power differentials. Yet another major issue with the objectivity norm is that what it deems the default or “neutral” perspective is typically that of a white male. A white male journalist is regarded as able to report on any topic objectively, whereas, say, a black journalist may not be considered impartial when covering the Black Lives Matter protests – an assumption that recently triggered a “[revolt]( among staff at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I’d like to see journalists and editors look critically at our field’s norms, confront those that are causing harm, and make decisions with the explicit aim of bolstering an anti-oppressive narrative that upholds democracy. PS: What measures – by policymakers, NGOs, activists, or the international community – would best protect journalists in the US and elsewhere? Are there specific lessons to be drawn from countries with strong press-freedom records? CCR: Protests are often dangerous... [Continue reading]( [America’s Cops Must Stop Attacking Journalists]( [America’s Cops Must Stop Attacking Journalists]( By Courtney C. Radsch Armed to the teeth and encouraged by elected officials, American police are targeting journalists covering the US protests as if the Constitution didn't exist. Clearly, "qualified immunity" has run amok, as many of those demonstrating against systemic racism and police brutality can attest. Previously in Say More [Sergei Guriev]( – a former chief economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a professor at Sciences Po in Paris – thinks Vladimir Putin’s regime may be reaching a moment of reckoning, highlights the link between pandemics and inequality, and praises Twitter’s recent crackdown on fake news. [Read more](. [Brahima Coulibaly]( – a senior fellow and Vice President of Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution – considers how Africa can get more from globalization, emphasizes the importance of job creation on the continent, and warns that, without adequate international support during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no “best-case scenario” for African economies. [Read more](. [Check out the full Say More archive]( [PS. Take 50% off a new subscription with the discount code SUMMER50]( Project Syndicate publishes and provides, on a not-for-profit basis, original commentary by the world's leading thinkers to more than 500 media outlets in over 150 countries. This newsletter is a service of [Project Syndicate](. [Change your newsletter preferences](. Follow us on [Facebook]( [Twitter]( and [YouTube](. © Project Syndicate, all rights reserved. [Unsubscribe from all newsletters](.