Huffington contrasts with Murrow’s vision

The Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington is set to speak at Tufts for the ninth annual Edward R. Murrow Forum on Issues in Journalism in April. While this year’s speaker is sure to bring an excited crowd, Huffington is a surprising selection. Though she is among the most powerful individuals in media — and has been a columnist, panelist, commentator, author and CEO — Huffington has never actually been a journalist. Murrow left a legacy of objective and fearless reporting. Despite Huffington’s undeniable success in online media, there is something to be said about the decision to have her represent Murrow’s legacy.

While many are aware of Huffington’s modern success, few know of her many political roles in public life. Huffington, who used to be married to former Republican Representative from California Michael Huffington, was a conservative commentator in the mid-1990s and aligned with the right until the end of the last decade. Huffington then abandoned conventional party lines after she said she realized that, “the primary division is between people who are aware of what I call ‘the two nations’ (rich and poor), and those who are not.”

Huffington now boasts a host of accomplishments. These make for the basis of an interesting talk, no doubt — just not one suited for the likes of esteemed journalists such as Christiane Amanpour and Brian Williams, the Murrow forum speakers of the last two years. Huffington is a cult hero among American progressives and a popular media icon, worthy even of spot-on spoofing on Saturday Night Live. She is a powerful businesswoman, keen influencer and leader in politically-slanted media. But The Huffington Post, which admittedly a few Tufts Daily staff members contribute to, is not the model of the unbiased, hard news journalism that defines Murrow and his forum at Tufts.

While entertaining and full of myriad opinions, ideas and articulations of the modern American landscape, The Huffington Post is first and foremost a blog, and often a news aggregator. Though it does feature some original news reports, these do not compare with the caliber of serious journalism previous Murrow forum hosts have created. Huffington’s work, while inspiring and indicative of tremendous intellectual and business prowess, was not created in the vein of the body of work for which the Murrow forum was founded. We’d be remiss to not call into question what this says about the state of news, and what we consider journalism in America.

Now more than ever, the lines are blurred between The Huffington Post model of journalism and the establishment journalism Murrow helped create. Yet Huffington herself remains outside the realm of a journalist in either definition. As a Communication and Media Studies department guest speaker, Huffington would be an excellent selection. But for a forum designed to feature prominent journalists, Huffington is not entirely appropriate. She is certainly an acceptable choice based on her impressive achievements, but her place as a journalist in the new age of news would be one Murrow would unlikely recognize.