The head of one of America's top journalism schools is ducking questions about why a magazine controlled by his institution's founding family killed a story that didn't fit the narrative — and the silence tells you everything about what J-schools are really teaching.
Tom Rosenstiel runs the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. He's a former executive director of the American Press Institute, described by his own school as "one of the world's most recognized thought leaders" on journalism and democracy. He teaches courses on the role of journalism in a democracy. He has a new book coming out called The Next Journalism: How the Press Must Change to Serve Democracy.
Here's what Rosenstiel won't talk about: why Washingtonian magazine, owned and operated by Cathy Merrill — daughter of the college's namesake Philip Merrill — spiked a completed profile of writer Mark Judge after six years of the author begging him to participate.
Judge was a central figure in the 2018 Brett Kavanaugh confirmation fight. Christine Blasey Ford claimed Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982 and that Judge witnessed it. Judge has spent years exposing what he describes as the left's coordinated plot against Kavanaugh.
According to HotAir, writer Cathy Alter pursued Judge for six years to sit for a profile. He finally agreed. They met at Georgetown University. She asked personal questions — what frightened him, his family, girls he dated at Georgetown Prep. Judge says he gave her more than that, including leads on the broader Kavanaugh story.
Then Washingtonian killed it.
Judge's theory: "They killed it because I exposed a lot of nasty stuff about the left and their plot against Brett Kavanaugh, stuff the journalists at Washingtonian (and elsewhere) do not want coming to light." He calls it censorship, not journalism. He compares the editors to "Stasi censors." He notes that at least David Enrich at the New York Times had the decency to apologize.
The institutional web here matters. Philip Merrill owned Washingtonian magazine. His daughter Cathy Merrill now runs Washingtonian Media as CEO and president. The journalism college bears his name. Rosenstiel draws a paycheck from the Merrill legacy while the Merrill publication kills stories that challenge the approved narrative.
This is the same profession that lectures Americans about democracy and truth. The same thought leaders writing books about how the press "must change to serve democracy" while their own backyard is a censorship operation. The same J-schools graduating reporters who see their mission as shaping opinion rather than seeking it.
Judge says he's addressing his questions to Rosenstiel's students because he doubts Rosenstiel himself will answer. That's the open question: whether the next generation of journalists will be any different from the people training them.
