Professor Sounds the Alarm on Why Hundreds of Journalists Being Fired Should Absolutely Terrify You

This Black professor’s warning about the NBC News and CBS News’ layoffs will make you rethink what freedom of the press really means.

The truth, according to some, is seemingly on life support in Donald Trump’s America, and the institutions that once held politicians’ feet to the fire and pushed back on when they’re told lies are being gutted. We should all care about what’s happening.

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We previously reported how just last month, CBS News laid off 100 employees. But they are not the only news organization handing out journalists’ pink slips. Recently, NBC News also let 150 employees go. And in January, CNN pushed 200 people out the door.

The leaders of these organizations would probably say they are laying people off because of economic concerns.  And to be sure, we have seen a cycle in recent years of networks like ESPN laying off experienced workers to save a few bucks, then immediately replacing those same people with cheaper, newer employees.

But something else, something deeper and more sinister, seems to be happening.

CBS did not just shutter its Race and Culture division, it also laid off so many Black folks that Trey Sherman, a now-former news producer who was let go by the company, posted a video on TikTok that immediately went viral. He claimed only him and fellow melanated folks were laid off while their white counterparts were not.

@treymous

Is CBS is doing race-based layoffs? #cbsnews #layoffs

♬ original sound – Trey Sherman
@treymous TikTok

NBC also did away with its editorial teams for NBC BLK (Black). And CNN followed suit and got rid of their Race and Equality team.

The proof is in the pudding, folks.

The reason why all this this is happening is simple. For one: news outlets are shifting their ideologies. Journalists tend to be liberal and being suspicious of authority comes along with the job— especially Black ones. But those in charge of these organizations are seemingly beginning to take their cues from Fox, attempting to make the news friendlier to those in power. They are, to many, starting to cater to MAGA Republicans who have been taught by the president to be suspicious of the truth.

We should all care about what’s happening to news organizations. There is reality, and then there is what President Trump wants us to believe. And there was a time when we could rely on the news to tell us the truth.

But when the people who oversee the news start believing that the truth is too costly, then we all suffer. Journalism is supposed to shine a light on the truth. But as Bob Woodard, one of the most acclaimed American investigative journalists and authors of the modern era puts it, democracies die in darkness.

Straight From The Root

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