Will Hampton Univ. J-School Avoid 'Muckraking?'

By: Mark Fitzgerald Updated at 10:40 a.m., Oct. 17

Sept. 25 was a feel-good day at Hampton University in Virginia as the institution dedicated the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications, a multimedia facility funded by a $10-million commitment from the E.W. Scripps Co.'s philanthropic foundation.

Scripps executives talked of how this largest-ever commitment to a j-school at a historically black college would help diversify newsrooms. William R. Harvey, Hampton's president for 24 years, repeated his prediction that the school would become one of the top 10 journalism programs in the nation.

Behind the scenes, though, current and past Hampton faculty members, plus a far-flung network of African-American journalists and journalism academics, were quietly voicing their concerns that the quality of the j-school would fall victim to Harvey's view that, as one faculty member quoted him, journalism is "to do good, not muckraking."

The controversy became public the very day of the j-school's opening ceremonies when Richard Prince, in his "Richard Prince's Journal-isms" Internet newsletter on the Maynard Institute Web site, reprinted parts of an e-mail message sent to the school's advisory council by Charlotte Grimes, a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who came to Hampton two years ago to head its department of media arts.

Grimes had been expected to head the new Scripps Howard School, but an interim leader, Rosalynne Whitaker-Heck, was appointed instead. In an interview, Grimes told E&P she had been offered the position, but declined it when Harvey said he intended to appoint a committee that would draft a mission statement reflecting his view that "muckraking" -- a term that many journalists use interchangeably with "investigative journalism" -- is not an appropriate subject for journalism education.

Harvey vigorously disputed Grimes' version of their conversations: "That's a lie. I never said anything at all to her about investigative journalism. That's a figment of her imagination, and I'm not going to say anything more about Charlotte Grimes."

He told E&P that journalism education at the new school would reflect Hampton values. "We very strongly believe in ethical behavior, integrity, honesty, respect for oneself and others -- and that's what we're going to teach here," he said.

But Grimes said she fears for Hampton j-school students after graduation: "I just believe very deeply we have to teach our students -- and they have to be able to practice -- the same skills and basic tenets of journalism that all students at top journalism programs are taught. If they're not, then our kids can't compete. ... I feel very strongly that a credible journalism program has to teach and practice thorough reporting, including what people call 'muckraking' or 'investigative journalism.'"

Grimes' views were supported by Eddith Dashiell, associate professor at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Dashiell said Harvey expressed his contempt even for local-news reporting when she was a visiting instructor teaching broadcast news at Hampton last year. "President Harvey looked at me -- and this is a direct quote -- and said, 'Oh, I'm not interested in my students covering local news,'" she said. What Harvey wanted broadcast students to do, Dashiell charged, was sit on a stool and read the stories they got out of the newspaper. "It's more than just 'muckraking.'" she said.

Dashiell and Grimes both said student journalists at Hampton already are strongly discouraged from reporting on controversies. "The student paper, when it did come out, had no news in it -- it was all puff pieces," Dashiell said.

But Scripps Howard Foundation CEO and President Judith G. Clabes said criticism of Harvey was off base. "Is there a college president in the country who loves his or her college paper all the time? No," Clabes said, adding she had "absolutely" no concerns that a Hampton j-school mission statement would serve to chill journalism education. "I think it will be a mission statement consistent with the best journalism schools in the country."

The criticism from Grimes, Clabes said, "really has nothing to do with the mission statement, and her comments about that are only to divert attention from the real reasons she didn't get the job." Clabes said those reasons were "personnel issues we don't want to talk about."

Grimes, who remains at Hampton as a teacher, said: "I just don't want to see the kids get hurt. Will they get in trouble for doing investigative-reporting assignments? I just think it puts a chill on the program."