Not about facts & truth? The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill accused of duplicitous activism after defining journalism as ‘agitation’

Popular sports commentator Jemele Hill has been challenged on social media after claiming that journalists should aim to serve as disrupters of society – a radical belief which she doesn't seem to practice herself.

Hill, who writes for the Atlantic, appeared on CNN to give her thoughts about a group of reporters who called in sick as a form of protest after their newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, published a column expressing concern that ongoing protests could damage historical buildings in the city.

According to the former ESPN host, the group of journalists had every right to take a stand against the opinion piece.

“Journalism is not a profession of being friends. Journalism is a profession of agitation,” Hill told the network, adding that people who work in newsrooms should “hold everybody accountable, even the people who sign our checks.”

Although her fellow CNN panelists nodded in agreement, her sentiments received thorough scrutiny on social media.

“I thought [journalism] was about facts and truth? Silly, silly me,” joked one Twitter user.

Others argued that her description of journalism sounded more like activism.

And while Hill apparently prides herself on speaking truth to power and not using her position to make friends, she adopted a different approach to her job when she mingled with the Obamas at the White House – twice.

“Such an honor to be invited back to the White House this year for some holiday festivities,” she tweeted in December 2016, including a photograph of herself with then-president Obama.

Obama’s own criticisms of the 2014 Ferguson protests and riots didn’t seem to dampen her admiration of the president.

The ongoing anti-racism protests across the United States have sparked upheaval within many news organizations. The opinion editor of the New York Times resigned on Sunday, after facing backlash for publishing an opinion piece by Senator Tom Cotton which called for the deployment of US military forces to restore order in US cities.

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