Stupid news director violates journalistic ethics

“Journalists cannot drop professional affiliation when it is convenient for them or for their cause,” Deni Elliott, executive director of the Ethics Institute, Dartmouth College, wrote in FineLine: The Newsletter On Journalism Ethics (September 1989). “People who wish to work on behalf of a particular cause should work in public relations or advocacy groups, not for the news media. Journalists should confine their public voices to their own professional arena.”

Unfortunately, some in the news media fail to follow this basic tenet of journalistic ethics. For example, Scott Rothschild, the former statehouse reporter for the Lawrence Journal-World, simultaneously served as the president of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Topeka (UUFT). In that role, Rothschild decided to make a political statement when his 128-member fellowship wrote a check to the local Topeka School Fund for $1,323, the amount it would have paid had its building been on the tax rolls.

The Jan/Feb 2003 issue of UU World: The Magazine of the Unitarian Universalist Association quoted Rothschild concerning how UUFT decided to make this stand: “The decision wasn't a slam dunk, said member Scott Rothschild, who suggested the idea. ‘The social justice committee had a pretty thorough discussion about it. There was a lot of concern about separation of church and state and why we should help the schools when it was really up to the politicians. But in the end, people thought this was one year the funding situation was really bad so we should help out.’”

Apparently, no member of the Journal-World management team took issue with Rothschild’s ethical lapse. He continued to be a statehouse reporter--and report on political issues on which his organization had adopted positions—until 2014, when he assumed a public relations position with the Kansas Association of School Boards.

While UU World did not mention Rothschild’s position with the news media, R.J. Dickens, the news director of Wichita’s KCTU, has made no effort to hide his affiliation with the news media while promoting It's Time to Fix Stupid, a political action committee (PAC) that, according to Dickens, wants to form a national super-PAC to target “stupid” candidates around the country. Last month, It’s Time to Fix Stupid held an online poll to identify the stupidest legislator in Kansas. With the exception of “a box of rocks,” all the nominees in the poll were Republicans.

Several newspapers have quoted Dickens saying, “Kansas has the third-least-educated legislature in the country.” His source is a June 2011 report in The Chronicle of Education. “Arkansas has the least formally educated Statehouse, with 25 percent of its 135 legislators not having any college experience at all, compared with 8.7 percent of lawmakers nationwide,” The New York Times reported on the report. “It was followed by state legislatures in Montana (20 percent), Kansas (16 percent), South Dakota (16 percent) and Arizona (16 percent).”

The Chronicle also looked at the percentage of state lawmakers who have a bachelor's degree or higher. Of the 7,000-plus state legislators in America, 74.7% have a bachelor's degree or higher. In Kansas, the percentage is 68.6%. This percentage is higher than Arkansas (60.4%) and Montana (64.7%). However, it is also higher percentage than New Hampshire (53.4%), Maine (58%), Delaware and New Mexico (59.7%), South Dakota (60.9%), Nevada (65.1%), and Wyoming (66.7%).

When Dickens, as the executive director It's Time to Fix Stupid says, “Kansas has the third-least-educated legislature in the country,” he appears to be suggesting that those without any college education are stupid. In addition, he appears to believe a better-educated legislature would make Kansas a better-run state. But where is the evidence to support this belief?

Last December, 24/7 Wall St. published “The Best and Worst Run States in America: A Survey of All 50.” Kansas, which supposedly has the “third-least educated legislature,” ranked #21. Montana, which has the second-least educated legislature, narrowly missed the top 10 list of best-run states at #11. Wyoming, which has a lower percentage of legislators with a bachelor’s degree or higher than Kansas, is the second best-run state. South Dakota, which also has a lower percentage of legislators with a bachelor’s degree of higher than Kansas, also made the top 10. Nebraska is the best-run state. It has a slightly higher percentage of legislators with a bachelor’s degree than Kansas (68.9% vs. 68.6%).

The worst-run state is Illinois, where 81.9% of its legislators have a bachelor’s degree or higher. California, which has the highest percentage of legislators with a bachelor’s degree or higher at 89.9%, ranks #30 on the best-run state list. (California was ranked last the previous year.) New York, which has the fourth highest percentage of legislators with a bachelor’s degree or higher at 86.8%, ranks #33 on the best-run state list.

There does not appear to be a correlation between how well-run a state is and the education level of the legislators in that state. That would make Dickens’ argument a specious one.

Dickens is certainly not the first bitter liberal to claim that Kansas legislators are stupid simply because they don't share his liberal worldview. In November 1999, PitchWeekly reported on the comments of Robert McKnight, a political consultant and husband of Caroline McKnight, then the executive director of the lefitst MAINstream Coalition, before the Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus. "I ran campaigns for 12 years before I went to Topeka,” McKnight said. “It was embarrassing! Have you gone and looked at these people who represent the state of Kansas? ... There are not enough smart women in politics, or the smart women aren't in politics. We've got a bunch of farmers up there. We've got a bunch of retired guys."

How odd that a farming state like Kansas would have legislators who know something about farming! And those retired guys? What do they know? Incidentally, my cousin, an Illinois farmer, was recently featured online discussing "variable-rate seeding.” I very much doubt McKnight could understand the discussion. In fact, he may not even understand his own field of public consultancy all that well. He ran for the Kansas House as a Democrat in 2010 and received just 38% of the vote.

Oh, and about that online poll concerning the “stupidest legislator in Kansas.” The “winner” was State Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook. Pilcher-Cook was a single mother working two jobs when she decided to go back to college. She graduated magna cum laude in 1993, and then went on to earn an MBA. She is better educated than Wilson and the vast majority of those who participated in his ridiculous poll.

Now Dickens might argue that earning college degrees does not mean that someone is intelligent. However, that argument would step on his point concerning Kansas having the "third-least-educated legislature in the country."

Dickens would be wise to stick to being a new director and confine his public voice to his own professional arena. He would look much less stupid if he did so.