Thread by @rolandsmartin

I really hate awful and shoddy reporting. And this @TheRoot article, which is based on an equally shoddy reporting job by @isagutierreznbc, regarding HBCU funding. Let me first deal with the @NBCNews story by Isa. In it, she talked to three HBCU students about @JoeBiden's 1/20

https://twitter.com/theroot/status/1485351024504180737

Campaign commitment to spend upwards of $60B on HBCUs during his first term. Not first year, but first term. In the story, @isagutierreznbc talks to a @HowardU student about the lack of funding and the housing crisis. Nowhere in the story did Isa state how much Howard gets 2/20

From the federal government on an annual basis. Nowhere did she state the INCREASE @HowardU has gotten over the last 18 months. @isagutierreznbc also talked to an Alabama A&M student who complained about the need for more professors and buildings. Nowhere did Isa say that 3/20

that Alabama A&M is a STATE-FUNDED school. Not. One. Time. Nowhere did she articulate how much Alabama A&M received in funding over the last 18 months. In the story, @isagutierreznbc says they called the Biden WH for comment. Well, did you bother to call Congress? The bill 4/20

Came from them! I don't have the resources of @NBCNews that @isagutierreznbc has access to, but I sure did. And guess what I was told by CBC members? I was told how much HBCUs have received. Who else did I call? The HBCUs groups that LOBBY for funding! Did NBC? NOPE. 5/20

Why do I hate the kind of reporting in this @NBCNews piece? Because by ONLY talking to three folks who are not well-versed on the actual details, it gives the impression that nothing has been done in terms of HBCU funding. Well, that's a lie. @isagutierreznbc should have 6/20

Called @BobbyScott, he only serves on the House Education Committee. Or call @RepAdams, who co-chairs the HBCU Caucus in Congress. Or call @baskesq at @_NAFEO. I did on #RolandMartinUnfiltered @BlkStarNetwork or call @tmcf_hbcu - I did. 7/20

Here is the interview: How did this story get past editors at @NBCNews? Did anyone bother to ask any of these basic ass questions I am asking here? Clearly the answer is NO. In the last 18 months, FACT: the federal education department forgave 8/20

$1.6B in HBCU debt, meaning they don't have to pay it back. That was HUGE. ed.gov/news/press-rel… Of the funding from Congress, many public HBCUs have received more federal aid than what their states give them, and they are state schools! The state is supposed to fund them. 9/20

So how does this bad reporting by @NBCNews get passed on to Black people? When Black-owned or Black-targeted media ventures rewrite the BS reported in mainstream media. Who did that? @TheRoot. Here is a story written by Alexandra Jane dlvr.it/SHg7Pj 10/20

First, @TheRoot needs to stop putting bylines on articles based on the reporting of someone else. This entire story is based on @isagutierreznbc's @NBCNews. I've ripped Black Media in the past for rewriting stories mainstream media does on Black people & make it their own. 11/20

I've always maintained the belief that Black Media should have enough damn credibility to pick up the phone and call Black people who are tied to a story. Nope. That's not what @TheRoot's Jane did. All she did was rewrite @isagutierreznbc's piece and gave it a Black stamp 12/20

Of approval. In Jane's @TheRoot story, not ONE mention of how much HBCUs got from the federal government over the last five years. What she and @isagutierreznbc should have done is show what was given in 2016, last year of @BarackObama, four years of Trump, and how much in 13/20

This is called Reporting 101. Both stories by Jane and @isagutierreznbc also only mentioned the campaign promise by @JoeBiden @KamalaHarris, but made no mention how much they initially proposed to Congress. Initial bill was $10T or $11T. It got slashed to $1.5T. So what got 14/20

Cut? Don't you kinda gotta say who cut it? CONGRESS! This ain't about protecting this White House. But it damn sure is about protecting the FACTS. And if @TheRoot says they are serving Black people, than stop regurgitating mainstream media BS. I've seen this crap for years! 15/20

I am sick and tired of Black-targeted and Black-owned media doing all of this bullshit aggregation. They see a Black story in the Times, Post or on TV, and don't even bother to question it. They rewrite it and pass it on to their readers and folks run along and repeat it. 16/20

Well, I'm sick of it. This is why my small staff at #RolandMartinUnfiltered @BlkStarNetwork picks the damn phone up and CALL PEOPLE. When I see something that impacts Black folks, I go to the source. I pick the phone up and chase them down. It's called REPORTING. But today, 17/20

"Reporting" is just quote someone's tweet, interview 2-3 people, make one call for comment and rush that shit on the air. God forbid 10 phone calls have to be made. Look, I get that we've seen media cuts, staffs are smaller. But hell, I don't have the money of @NBCNews or 18/20

@TheRoot. I also have run three Black newspapers that didn't have the revenue I make now with #RolandMartinUnfiltered @BlkStarNetwork. But I can assure you of one thing, if any staffer of mine turned in a story like these two did, I would kick that crap back so fast 19/

That their heads would spin. What we need today are line editors who give a shit. We need a return to old school journalism where who, what, where, when, how and why is the foundation of REPORTING. Y'all gotta do better @NBCNews and @TheRoot, especially the latter. 20/20

Please tune into #RolandMartinUnfiltered on the @BlkStarNetwork. I have IN MY POSSESSION the most up-to-date spreadsheet on how much HBCUs have received from the federal government. I will share it all at 6 pm EST. Please watch @NBCNews @isagutierreznbc and @TheRoot! 21/21