Revisiting: Libraries and the Contested Terrain of “Neutrality”; The Scholarly Kitchen, September 3, 2024

 RICK ANDERSON, The Scholarly Kitchen; Revisiting: Libraries and the Contested Terrain of “Neutrality”

"The question of whether libraries can – or even should – be “neutral” has been a difficult and controversial one for years. It is now becoming even more so as book bans become more prevalent and command more public attention. Recently, the political Right has increased its efforts to get books on various topics pulled from library shelves, especially in public and school libraries; the Left, on the other hand, generally engages in book banning from a different angle, trying to stop books from being published, calling for them not to be sold, and retroactively censoring books already published. In this politically charged context, the American Library Association offers an incoherent advocacy message, on one hand asserting that libraries must provide “an impartial environment” that offers “information spanning the spectrum of knowledge and opinions,” while on the other decrying “neutrality rhetoric” in librarianship for its role in “emboldening and encouraging white supremacy and fascism.”

A fundamental question remains insufficiently examined: in the context of libraries, what does “neutral” actually mean? Are there ways in which libraries can and should be “neutral,” and ways in which they should not? This post from several years ago examined these questions – ones that seem even more urgent in the current moment than they did then."

Column: Can scientists moonlight as activists — or does that violate an important ethical code?; Los Angeles Times, November 17, 2022

OPINION COLUMNIST, Nicholas Goldberg, Los Angeles Times; Column: Can scientists moonlight as activists — or does that violate an important ethical code?

Kalmus, Chornak and their colleagues believe it is their moral responsibility as scientists to help awaken society to the dangers of climate change, which include not just more of the raging storms, droughts, wildfires and heat waves we’re already experiencing, but very possibly famine, mass migration, collapsing economies and war.

I think they’re right. 

But as more and more scientists have become engaged in climate activism over the years, they have faced pushback from traditionalists who insist that scientists should be disinterested, impartial “seekers of truth” who keep their opinions to themselves, thank you very much."

The Battle for the Soul of the Library; The New York Times, February 24, 2022

Stanley Kurtz, The New York Times; The Battle for the Soul of the Library

"Ultimately, librarians who work to balance a library’s holdings will be far more persuasive advocates for intellectual freedom than those with a political ax to grind.

There is a lesson here for the professions upon whose trustworthy refereeing our society depends for its stability: judges, government bureaucrats, journalists and more. These occupations should work to recapture lost neutrality. As our political conflicts deepen, we need our traditionally fair and impartial referees far more, not less, than before." 

Scott Pelley is pulling no punches on the nightly news — and people are taking notice; Washington Post, March 26, 2017

Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post; Scott Pelley is pulling no punches on the nightly news — and people are taking notice

"Pelley, and others at CBS, declined to comment for this column, saying the work speaks for itself. There is clearly every wish to avoid setting up CBS as anti-Trump or as partisan.

But, accepting Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite Award last November, Pelley tipped his hand: “The quickest, most direct way to ruin a democracy is to poison the information.”"