The creator of The 1619 Project has said that 'all journalism is activism', defending her controversial reimagining of U.S. history.
Nikole Hannah-Jones was asked by CBS News on Saturday about her work for The New York Times Magazine, and in particular the backlash against The 1619 Project.
The 1619 Project was launched in August 2019 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans arriving in colonial Virginia. It won Hannah-Jones a Pulitzer, but critics say that it is full of historical inaccuracies, and portrays the U.S. as fundamentally racist.
Hannah-Jones said that she was proud of the impact her work had.
'All journalism is activism,' she said.
Nikole Hannah-Jones, a journalist with The New York Times Magazine and creator of The 1619 Project - which won her a Pulitzer - has argued that 'all journalism is activism'
" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0"
Hannah-Jones works at The New York Times, which is facing questions about its left-leaning stance
'When you look at the model of The Washington Post, right? 'Democracy dies in darkness,' that's not a neutral position.
'But our methods of reporting have to be objective.
Bari Weiss, who left The New York Times last year, has described the journalists at the paper as 'activists'
'We have to try to be fair and accurate. And I don't know how you can be fair and accurate if you pretend publicly that you have no feelings about something that you clearly do.'
Hannah-Jones' remarks came as The New York Times faces questions over its own left-leaning stance.
Bari Weiss, a former writer at the paper, last month described the staff as 'activist journalists who treat the paper like a high school cafeteria.'
Weiss said the paper foments 'rage, polarization, distrust' which betrayed her values.
She resigned from the paper in 2020 with a letter in which she detailed bullying in an 'illiberal environment.'
In recent days Hannah-Jones has come under fire after comments she made in 2019 about Cuba being among the 'most equal' countries in the world, because of its socialist government, resurfaced online.
Hannah-Jones, pictured during Saturday's interview with CBS, defended her work from criticism that it was not objective
