by David Safier
AZ Blue Meanie has a post about HB 2281, the newly passed anti-ethnic studies bill. He's rightly indignant about the bill, especially since it comes from people who regularly use ethnic hatred, veiled and outright, to advance their agenda.
The Meanie has it right, but the articles he cites seem to have it wrong. A Yahoo article is headlined, Arizona legislature bans ethnic-studies programs. A KGUN story is headlined, TUSD to eliminate Ethnic Studies and begins with this sentence: "A history learning program in TUSD will become history."
The problem is, so far as I know, TUSD has not issued a statement about the fate of its Ethnic Studies programs, and in the past, the district has said the programs would not be affected by the passage of the bill. A source connected with TUSD tells me there is no word about eliminating the Ethnic Studies programs.
Either this is terrible reporting — creating the impression that the Ethnic Studies programs have to be eliminated because they are as biased and hateful as Tom Horne claims — or the reporters know something they're not saying. I'm betting on terrible reporting being the right answer, since neither article refers to anyone at TUSD saying the programs will be eliminated.
KGUN, is right here in town, with plenty of TUSD sources. Either it should source its comments about the demise of Ethnic Studies or print a retraction.
UPDATE: If there was ever any doubt the reason for HB 2281, put those doubts to rest. Its purpose is to kill the Ethnic Studies program at TUSD. From the Republic:
Horne said his target is an ethnic-studies curriculum in the Tucson Unified School District.
"[The bill] would ban La Raza studies because it's a course that's aimed primarily at members of one race, and we have testimony that this has promoted resentment toward one race," Horne said Friday. "Raza" means "race."
But the bill would go beyond Tucson's Mexican-American offerings and would end other ethnic-centric courses, Horne said.
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KGUN 9 reports news blurbs on the Jon Justice show, so I’ve always been under the impression that they skew to the right.
Sources? Facts? DATA!!!!???? David, get a grip – these people haven’t a clue about any of that! They are not journalists in the tradition of Murrow or Cronkite – they just repeat “stuff” – often very bad “stuff” and generally unsourced “stuff”.
Now, I’ve heard that KGUN either owns or is owned by the station that runs the Jon Justice Show. If true, I wouldn’t expect very much in the way of journalistic integrity when it comes to reporting on any topic that program is infamous for ranting against.