And the Pulitzer goes to...Nikole Hannah-Jones?

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CounterCurrent: Week of 5/17
And the Pulitzer goes to...
Nikole Hannah-Jones?

CounterCurrent is the National Association of Scholars’ weekly newsletter, bringing you the biggest issues in academia and our responses to them.
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Category: 1620 Project; Reading Time: ~2 minutes
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** Featured Article - The Collapse of the Fourth Estate by Peter Wood ([link removed][UNIQID])
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The 2020 Pulitzer Prize winners ([link removed][UNIQID]) were announced two weeks ago, including those awarded for work in journalism, creative writing, drama, and music. Established ([link removed][UNIQID]) in 1904 by journalist extraordinaire Joseph Pulitzer and administered since 1917 by the Columbia Journalism School, the prizes were designed “as an incentive to excellence” in these fields, granting the awardees international recognition and monetary grants to bolster their work.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, the founder and face of The New York Times’ "The ([link removed][UNIQID]&utm_source=National+Association+of+Scholars+General&utm_campaign=ba892e89c2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_05_15_03_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_407924b2a9-ba892e89c2-42636925&mc_cid=ba892e89c2&mc_eid=[UNIQID]) 1619 Project ([link removed][UNIQID]&utm_source=National+Association+of+Scholars+General&utm_campaign=ba892e89c2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_05_15_03_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_407924b2a9-ba892e89c2-42636925&mc_cid=ba892e89c2&mc_eid=[UNIQID]) ," won the Pulitzer Prize in commentary journalism for her lead 1619 essay “Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true
([link removed][UNIQID]) .” The Pulitzer Committee’s announcement of the prize was as follows: “For a sweeping, deeply reported and personal essay for the ground-breaking 1619 Project, which seeks to place the enslavement of Africans at the center of America’s story, prompting public conversation about the nation’s founding and evolution.”

The award is a disappointing yet unsurprising decision by the Pulitzer Committee, one that clearly betrays its willingness to overlook gross violations of journalistic standards in order to promote progressive ideals. The 1619 Project in general and Hannah-Jones’ essay in particular is riddled with historical errors both factual and interpretive, as demonstrated by a wide variety of historians ([link removed][UNIQID]) . At the same time, it inculcates in its readers a hatred of America and has spread throughout all 50 states through the Times’ educational partnership ([link removed][UNIQID]) with the Pulitzer Center ([link removed][UNIQID]) (no relation to the Pulitzer Prizes).

How did a piece of historical commentary that misrepresents central elements of the American founding, rejects rigorous historical analysis, and elevates proudly biased distortions of history win the most prestigious prize in journalism?

In this week’s featured article ([link removed][UNIQID]) , National Association of Scholars President Peter Wood gives his take on the Pulitzer’s announcement and explains why a 1619 Project Pulitzer points to the larger collapse of journalism as an honest enterprise. He writes:

The Pulitzer Committee no doubt had good reasons for giving Hannah-Jones this award, but I doubt they are the reasons expressed in the citation. The citation is no more than artful camouflage. The 1619 Project is a power play in which, at great expense in both money and reputation, The New York Times has attempted to intensify racial resentment and accelerate identity politics.


Nikole Hannah-Jones’ Pulitzer Prize is, in the words of a certain Democratic presidential hopeful, pure malarkey. Her eminently flawed 1619 Project essay deserved no consideration for this award due to its widespread disregard of journalistic standards and historical facts, as well as her refusal ([link removed][UNIQID]) to engage with historian detractors. The Pulitzer Prize has become little more than a means to promote progressive ideals in journalism and the arts, a far cry from what it was created to do.

Until next week.

John David
Communications Associate
National Association of Scholars

P.S.: Peter Wood’s forthcoming book 1620: The True Beginning of the American Republic ([link removed][UNIQID]) is available for pre-order ([link removed][UNIQID]) now. Published by Encounter Books, the work synthesizes the various critiques of The 1619 Project and puts forth a different vision of the American founding, one centered on the genesis of the Plymouth colony in 1620. To pre-order ([link removed][UNIQID]) , click here ([link removed][UNIQID]) .
Read More ([link removed][UNIQID])
For more on the 1619 Project and 1620 Project:
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May 04, 2020


** Pulitzer and the Politicization of American History ([link removed][UNIQID])
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Christopher Kendall

A 1619 Project Pulitzer does nothing more than demonstrate the Pulitzer Committee's tribal loyalty to progressivism.

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April 07, 2020


** Missing the Point of Plymouth Rock ([link removed][UNIQID])
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David Randall

It is the essential, central component of the story of American liberty.

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March 16, 2020


** The New York Times Revises The 1619 Project, Barely ([link removed][UNIQID])
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Peter Wood

After more than six months of criticism from historians, The New York Times has very slightly revised part of The 1619 Project. It's a start, but we hope they will do more.

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March 03, 2020


** Excluding Experts ([link removed][UNIQID])
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NAS

Nikole Hannah-Jones ought to step up, be courageous, and debate the historians with whom she disagrees, argues Peter Wood in a recent essay.


** About the NAS
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