CNN’s Objectivity Doesn’t Extend to Covering the Gainful Employment Rule
CNN is one of the surviving news organizations that seeks to adhere to a standard of so-called “objective journalism.” Anchor Anderson Cooper once said, “I'm not interested in opinion-based journalism. It just validates your own point of view.” Yet CNN Money just published one of the most one-sided pieces to date on the issue of accountability for the for-profit education industry.
A piece published today on CNN Money discusses the gainful employment rule, a regulation that has been proposed by the Department of Education to prevent abuses by for-profit colleges and universities. “But the industry is fighting back hard,” the story reads.
The reporter, in fact, only included quotes from people on one side of the debate: Harris Miller, president of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, a group that opposes the rules and spent more than $350,000 on lobbying in 2010; and Anne Weismann, chief council at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a group that has frequently filed ethics complaints against critics of the for-profit industry. CREW has come under scrutiny because its director, Melanie Sloan, announced (then backed off of) a decision to join for-profit college lobbyist Lanny Davis’ firm late last year.
The CNN Money story included no quotes from groups or individuals who think the proposed rule is a positive step, including Campus Progress’ advocacy arm, Colorlines, The Institute for College Access and Success, the NAACP, the National Council of La Raza, The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, AFL-CIO, the United States Student Association, and Student PIRGs.
What’s more, CNN Money published the story after Congress rejected a measure, pushed for the for-profit education industry, that would have blocked funding to enforce the gainful employment regulation, indicating the Department of Education will move forward with implementing some version of the rule.
It’s not clear why the CNN Money reporter and editors published such a one-sided account, but this article clearly did not meet CNN’s standards.
Kay Steiger is the editor of CampusProgress.org.
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