Columbia J school letter in support of fired WSJ reporter Cheng

We, members of the faculty of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, express our concern and disappointment at The Wall Street Journal’s decision to terminate reporter Selina Cheng soon after she assumed the chairmanship of the embattled Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA). Selina, a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School Class of 2016, is a native Hong Konger who had worked for the Journal for two and a half years.

At a time when press freedom is under threat around the world, the international news media should be firm in their support of journalists and journalist organizations that advocate for a free press and the public’s right to know.

We understand the Journal’s concerns for the safety of their staff, given that its Moscow correspondent, Evan Gershkovich, has spent the past year in a Russian jail. The Journal has asked for — and received — the support of the global press community in campaigning for Gershkovich’s release and to stand for the cause of press freedom.

Yet, by her own account, Selina was told by an editor that Journal staff should not be advocating for press freedom in places like Hong Kong, where journalists have been arrested, newsrooms shuttered, and a new security law gives the authorities broad powers to silence critics.

We understand that other international news organizations have dissuaded their reporters from involvement with the HKJA and the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club. We recognize the difficult decisions they have to make to ensure the safety of their staff and their continued ability to work in difficult locations around the world, but every compromise exacts a cost on the entire journalism community and on the publics that we serve.

Signed,

Jelani Cobb, Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism

Sheila Coronel, Toni Stabile Professor of Professional Practice in Investigative Journalism and Director, Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism

Bruce Shapiro, Senior Executive Director, Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

Robe Imbriano, Ira A. Lipman Associate Professor of Journalism and Director, Ira. A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights

Melanie Greer Huff, Senior Associate Dean of Student Life

Helen Benedict, Professor of Journalism

Jacob Kushner, Newsday/David Laventhol Visiting Assistant Professor of Journalism

Dale Maharidge, Professor of Journalism

Lisa Cohen, Director of the duPont-Columbia Awards

Sally Herships, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Journalism and Director, Audio Program

Winnie O’Kelley, Bloomberg Professor of Professional Practice

Marguerite Holloway, Professor of Professional Practice and Director of Science and Environmental Journalism

Ty Lawson, Joan Konner Visiting Professor of Journalism