Anti-gun group will teach journalists how to report on gun violence

Anti-gun group will teach journalists how to report on gun violence

An anti-gun group, backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is funding a workshop that purports to teach journalists how to report on guns and gun violence issues.

This is akin to Al Gore instructing meteorologists how they should report the weather.

The workshop, to be held in Phoenix on April 17-18, will be conducted by the Columbia Journalism School-affiliated Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, according to its website.

“The workshop, funded by Everytown for Gun Safety, will offer independent expert briefings and specialized reporting skills training to enhance the practical ability of journalists to report on guns and gun violence knowledgeably, ethically and effectively,” the Dart Center’s website posted Thursday.

It’s difficult to fathom how a workshop funded by Everytown can offer “independent expert briefings” on the issue of firearms, an item Everytown was expressly founded to combat.

As for teaching the journalists “specialized reporting skills,” the only skills they need are research techniques designed to uncover the truth. That’s the job of a reporter; mouthing the agenda of an anti-gun group is not.

And what is Everytown’s agenda? The Washington Times reports:

Everytown for Gun Safety is headed by John Feinblatt, a former top aide to Mr. Bloomberg. The group claims to have 2.5 million supporters and over 40,000 donors, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The Bloomberg-backed group bills itself as “a movement of Americans working together to end gun violence and build safer communities.” Its website states “For too long, change has been thwarted by the Washington gun lobby and by leaders who refuse to take common-sense steps that will save lives.

Bloomberg’s push for stringent gun control measures has assumed the aura of a sacred quest, with an intention to “punish those politicians who fail to support their agenda — even Democrats whose positions otherwise align with his own,” The New York Times reported in April.

“We’ve got to make them afraid of us,” he said of pro-Second Amendment lawmakers.

So much for objective journalism.

Michael Dorstewitz

Michael Dorstewitz

Michael Dorstewitz is a recovering Michigan trial lawyer and former research vessel deck officer. He has written extensively for BizPac Review.

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