{"id":46950,"date":"2019-02-20T12:12:37","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T20:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=46950"},"modified":"2019-02-20T12:12:37","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T20:12:37","slug":"league-of-lol-a-case-that-questions-schools-of-journalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/league-of-lol-a-case-that-questions-schools-of-journalism\/","title":{"rendered":"“League of LOL”: a case that questions schools of journalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nSince the beginning of February, testimonials have been pouring in on the “LOL league” – a\u00a0Facebook group<\/a>\u00a0of young media professionals\u00a0accused of harassing people<\/a>\u00a0between 2009 and 2012 on social networks, particularly Twitter, other journalists and members of the blogosphere.\u00a0These revelations question the responsibility of the editorial offices, but also that of the schools of journalism.\u00a0They also show the difficult introspection of a profession that sees itself “naturally” educated and humanistic.<\/p>\n

For the media that have used or employ the journalists involved are in the camp of so-called progressive media, rather leftist, and who have invested particularly in recent years on topics such as sexism, racism, homophobia or still anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n

Many articles have pointed to a\u00a0“boys club”<\/a>\u00a0phenomenon\u00a0, which, under the cover of humor, by excluding certain minority or minority people, such as women, racialized people or men who do not correspond to a virilist schema. , allowed these members to secure a career and access to positions of responsibility.<\/p>\n

In a second time, the question of the responsibility of the schools of journalism, where some of the incriminated persons met had met.\u00a0Can we imagine that they fabricate, even unconsciously, violence, to the extent that they welcome future young journalists after a demanding career, to prepare them for a job whose\u00a0access is restricted<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0?<\/p>\n

That would be tantamount to thinking that by internalizing what awaits them after graduation, students, consciously or unconsciously, set the stage for the greatest chances of success.\u00a0What means do schools put in place to ensure equality and respect for people in their organization?<\/p>\n

Ethics considered “natural”<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Journalism schools, like journalists, are extremely vigilant about their independence and their educational freedom for the former, editorial for the latter.\u00a0For good reasons: the independence of the press is the guarantee of democracy.\u00a0In the current debate, schools were criticized for opposing the introduction in the\u00a02014<\/a>\u00a0Gender Equality\u00a0Bill of<\/a>\u00a016 bis all higher education journalism institutions to modify their curricula to provide education on gender equality and the fight against sexist stereotypes.<\/p>\n

Part of this was due to the fact that educational leaders in journalism schools are constantly being solicited by groups, associations and others asking to intervene in schools to make students aware of how to deal with such and such topic.\u00a0We understand that they are extremely vigilant.\u00a0Another argument has been put forward: why should this obligation be the only training in journalism, and not those of advertising, human resources or marketing?<\/p>\n

However, schools of journalism should not refrain from questioning the issues of respect between people or the media treatment of certain categories of people.\u00a0Academic literature abounds, moreover, with regard to biased and stereotyped media treatments, as shown by the work of\u00a0Marl\u00e8ne Coulomb-Gully<\/a>\u00a0on the media treatment of women or\u00a0Eric Mac\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0, on diversity on television.<\/p>\n

While it is so difficult for news organizations and journalism schools – where senior positions are often filled by former journalists – to question their practice, it is because they are often in a myth that of ethics and deontology that underlies journalism training as the practice of this profession.\u00a0Ethics born from the founding principles of the 1918 SNJ (National Union of Journalists) Charter, revised in 1938 and\u00a0updated<\/a>\u00a0in March 2011. But, as Eric Neveu notes in his book\u00a0Sociologie des m\u00e9dias<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0:<\/p>\n

“This sense of belonging to a shared deontology runs up against the limits of the absence of corporate sanction mechanisms when there is an attack on the principles of this deontology.\u00a0“<\/em><\/p>\n

Awareness in schools<\/strong><\/h4>\n

If all journalism schools have become aware of these issues, we can consider that a real collective thinking has emerged from work and round tables of the\u00a0CNMJ<\/a>\u00a0(National Conference of journalism) in January 2018. Called “Men and women how to use it in the media “, the\u00a0event<\/a>looked as much at the organization of the newsrooms as the media treatment of the subjects.\u00a0A survey<\/a>\u00a0based on interviews was conducted among the 14 schools recognized by the profession (comprising the Conference of Schools of Journalism), as well as the ESJ Pro in Montpellier raised two points in particular:<\/p>\n