Gabrielle Russon
A reporter for a well-respected national education outlet is accusing Florida’s higher education system of boycotting access because the outlet declined to publish the state’s op-ed.
Inside Higher Ed reporter Josh Moody posted a screenshot of an email he received where the State University System said it is now refusing to “participate in media requests.”
The op-ed in question was in response to Moody’s story exploring the impact of Florida’s controversial post-tenure review policy. The rebuke published by Jason Jewell, the Chief Academic Officer and Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives of the State University System of Florida, was published online the system’s website even if it did not find a home with Inside Higher Ed.
“For years the State University System of Florida has engaged in good faith with Inside Higher Ed, responding to inquiries and providing context for stories — even as the outlet has consistently published content that presents Florida’s higher education policies in a negative and often biased light,” the state’s email said. ”It is deeply disappointing, then, that Inside Higher Ed would reject an opinion piece intended to offer a direct rebuttal to one of its own published articles … This dismissive approach undermines the principles of balanced journalism and fair discourse.”
The publication’s leader said she was “acting within our rights as a publisher and within our stated submission guidelines” when declining to publish the piece. Inside Higher Ed notified that it receives “a large number of strong submissions for our views section” and was forced to make “tough decisions.’
“We maintain a strong firewall between our opinion and news sections so I’m sorry they are choosing to disengage from our independent reporting in response to an opinion rejection,” Editor in Chief Sara Custer said. “We take our responsibility as journalists very seriously and know that our readers value our coverage of public higher education in Florida, including the comments we get from the State University System. We hope they will reconsider their decision.”
When reached for comment, the State University System released an email thread between Moody and Chancellor Ray Rodrigues.
“Candidly you can’t boycott an entire publication and pretend to be transparent, so I would encourage you to reverse this decision,” Moody wrote Rodrigues, adding that the op-ed was submitted improperly. “To me this smells like an excuse to simply refuse media inquiries because you can’t handle tough but fair coverage.”
