The Jeremiad Over Journalism

Moreover, Krab-Johansen‘s own evaluation of the educational exchange 16 years later sheds
important light on the formative nature of a stay at one of the elite American journalism schools.
―There is no doubt that my year at Columbia School of Journalism has meant everything to
the way I approach journalism. (…) [It was] inspiring to be taught by professors who had
worked at The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CBS News and other world-renowned
media and be coached by journalists who had won a Pulitzer Prize. The standards for quality
grew to be fairly high and my respect for the profession undoubtedly increased.‖ 414
The above examples indicate that the American Embassy, DAF and the Fulbright Commission
worked very consciously to select talented men and women who were thought to play a prominent
part in Danish society now or later. 415 As part of the Fulbright Program and the cultivation of the
future leaders, the American Embassy each year gave out ―leader grants‖ to promising young
Danes. 416 This conscious selection of candidates took place across Europe, and as Günther Bischoff
has shown in the case of Austria, American officials were extremely adept at picking the right
candidates, meaning future opinion-makers, for exchange. 417
The American officials responsible for the Danish exchange programs also seem to have been very
successful, in picking candidates who would later play a prominent part within their professional
field, and this is especially true of the field of journalism. In 1986 the American Embassy compiled
a list of ―Prominent Fulbrighters‖ which abounded with journalists. Niels Jørgen Haagerup, a
―research scholar in International relations at Tufts University in 1952, is mentioned in the
document along with Bent Mohn from Politiken, who studied American literature at the University
of California, Berkeley in 1955 and Samuel Rachlin at Columbia in 1977 as well as Michael
414 Anders Krab-Johansen, E-mail to author regarding stay at Columbia University, December 15, 2010. My translation.
Original text reads, ―Der er ingen tvivl om, at mit år på Columbias journalistskole har betydet alt for den måde, jeg er
gået til journalistikken på. (…) Det var også inspirerende at blive undervist at professorer, som havde arbejdet på New
York Times, Wall Street Journal, CBS News og andre verdenskendte medier, og blive coachet af af journalister, som
har vundet en Pulitzer-pris. Kravene til kvaliteten blev rimeligt høje, og min respekt for faget blev utvivlsomt øget.‖
415 Jensen, "En Krig På Værdier - Mål Og Midler I Det Amerikanske Kulturdiplomati [A War on Values: Means and
Ends in the American Cultural Diplomacy]." Page 19.
416 Ibid. Page 13. See also Dean, "Annual Policy Assessment." Dean here notes, ―USIS has conducted a number of
programs with teachers of English. Appropriately, half of this years‘ eight leader grantees were under 35.‖
417 Bischoff, "Two Sides of the Coin: The Americanization of Austria and Austrian Anti-Americanism." Page 155-158.
See also Sørensen, "Kulturmøder, Selvkolonisering Og Imperialisme Om USAmerikaniseringen Af Europa [Cultural
Encounters, Selfcolonialization and Imperialism About USAmericanization of Europe." Page 187.
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