Columbia Journalism Dean Says NYT Quoted Criticized ‘Nobody Can Protect You’ Comments Out of Context

In a statement Thursday night Jelani Cobb, dean of Columbia Journalism School, said that comments he made this week that critics blasted as effective surrender to Donald Trump’s war on immigrants and the press were taken out of context by the New York Times. Further, Cobb said, not only were said comments were in response to a specific question about immigration and not journalism, he went on to tell students “I would do everything in my power to defend our journalists.”

On Wednesday, the New York Times published an account of an off-the-record meeting held Tuesday at Columbia with journalim students to address concerns about Trump’s attacks on the university, and his administration’s unlawful detainment of recent Columbia grad Mahmoud Khalil. During the meeting, students with foreign visas were warned, “If you have a social media page, make sure it is not filled with commentary on the Middle East.”

When one Palestinian student objected, Cobb was reported to have said, “Nobody can protect you. These are dangerous times.” This sparked criticism from some journalists who accused Cobb of advising students to “obey in advance.”

Cobb responded on Thursday night, confirming that he did make that comment, but that he had told the New York Times when contacted about them that “those words were technically accurate but practically misleading.”

“My words about protection came in response to a question about what the school was doing to protect via-holding students from potential arrest and deportation I went on to say that I would do everything in my power to defend our journalists and their right to report but that none of us had the capacity to stop DHS [Department of Homeland Security] from jeopardizing their safety,” he continued.

More to come…

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