To Distract From Its Own Problems, Newsweek Attacks Christian University

For shareholder battle, Newsweek still weaponized with fake news against Christian school — Getty Image

Newsweek recently published a front-page article about a Christian university on March 28th, placing the story alongside globally important breaking news. The inflammatory article claimed that California Attorney General Rob Bonta was taking "legal action" against Olivet University and also implied that federal authorities were moving toward school closure ("feds circle"). This was very much exaggerated and untrue. And Newsweek's readers were likely left wondering why a venerated magazine would publish fake news alleging a Christian university's closure. Could it be to distract from Newsweek's own internal troubles?

Newsweek's "Criminal" Narrative Deflates

For more than a year, Newsweek has repeatedly trumpeted the claim that Olivet University is facing federal charges of human trafficking, money laundering, and visa fraud - related to a campus raid that happened over two years ago. But despite Newsweek's very public agitations, and the passage of so much time, still no charges have been filed. What does that say about the veracity of Newsweek's claims about Olivet?

The same goes for Newsweek's latest story. Although the article begins by implying that something big has happened, it fizzles out as Newsweek concludes that no crime is alleged by California's Attorney General against Olivet. To be clear, Newsweek states in its article that the notice, filed on behalf of California's Bureau for Private and Postsecondary Education (BPPE), did not contain any criminal allegations against Olivet University.

Instead, the notice from BPPE stated that Olivet University should attend a hearing, citing 14 points that BPPE believes are not in compliance with standards. When asked to respond to this letter, Olivet University officials stated that they welcome this as a good opportunity to reveal the truth.

Poor School or Outstanding University?

The university official said, "California BPPE can raise issues at any time as a supervisory agency, and can listen to the school's perspective. This is a good chance to show what we have done." Nonetheless, Newsweek's article gives the impression as though the school's closure is all but decided already, which is untrue.

Additionally, the university official said, "Olivet University was founded 20 years ago and is a full member of ABHE, a national accreditation agency. The California BPPE issue is limited to California only." According to school officials, all matters may be resolved with BPPE beforehand, so there may or may not be a hearing. Either way, they welcome the chance to clarify whether Olivet is a poor school or, in fact, an outstanding university.

Olivet University is currently operating six campuses not only in California, but also in multiple states such as Missouri and Tennessee, and is recognized as an outstanding school among ABHE members.

Among these campuses, Newsweek's latest article falsely claimed that Olivet's permission to operate in Washington, D.C. was expiring on March 31st. But this is untrue, as Olivet's permission to operate does not expire on March 31st according to a letter from the D.C. Higher Education Licensure Commission (HELC).

Magazine Gets Deflated Response

A university official stated, "While reading the Newsweek article, I felt pity for the magazine. If it were a reputable news outlet, they would focus on verifying the facts and helping readers uncover the truth. Instead, Newsweek seemed disappointed that the criminal allegations they had hoped to find did not materialize." The official also pointed out that Newsweek had asked many agencies to comment on the allegations raised by the magazine, but unfortunately, no one gave the answers that Newsweek was hoping for. In fact, nobody responded at all.

The California Attorney General's office did not respond to Newsweek's emails. Neither did BPPE Chief Deborah Cochrane. The U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles declined to provide comment to Newsweek. California's Department of Consumer Affairs declined to answer Newsweek's questions. Washington, D.C.'s Higher Education Licensure Commission (HELC) did not respond to Newsweek. And Olivet University's accreditor, the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE), did not respond to Newsweek, either.

Conflating the Facts

The university official criticized, "Newsweek does not deal with the facts as they are, but distorts and conflates the facts to write articles that attack a Christian university for the sake of personal interests."

For example, Newsweek's recent article headline implied that Olivet University was going to be shut down at the federal level ("feds circle"), which misleads the reader into thinking that the story is about a federal matter instead of a state-level matter. Basic common sense is that journalists should not conflate two different matters.

In the same article, Newsweek reported that the California Attorney General took "legal action," giving the false impression that the Attorney General himself was taking action against Olivet. But the notice was solely from BPPE Chief Deborah Cochrane, which is stated clearly in the first line of the notice. The Attorney General's office was simply filing the document on her behalf.

Newsweek did the same thing when Olivet's permission to operate expired last year in New York State (Olivet operates campuses in multiple states). Newsweek distorted this to mean that Olivet was "shut down" by the state education agency. But there's a difference between an "expiring permit in a single state" and "shutting down the entire school." Additionally, Olivet generously offered usage of its New York campus to the Evangelical Center that now serves Christians globally, a fact that Newsweek omitted.

Again and again, Newsweek conflates two different things to mislead readers into believing that matters are much bigger than they are, in order to harm a Christian university for the sake of its CEO.

Newsweek Forced to Make Corrections to Articles, But Reverted Back to Old Ways

Newsweek continues to behave like this despite the fact that a reporter hired by CEO Dev Pragad was forced to make corrections on article contents in response to a legal demand by the university, which pointed out factual inaccuracies. But as Newsweek continues publishing distorted and sensational articles without corrections, the university's attorneys have begun preparing new documents for a lawsuit against this reckless behavior.

In one instance, Newsweek mischaracterized Olivet University founder Dr. David Jang, a theologian in the Presbyterian church, as a "cleric" or "sect leader" instead of with the proper title of a "pastor." Confronted about this, Newsweek corrected the article with the word "pastor." But in subsequent articles, Newsweek oddly reverted back to using the words "cleric" and "sect." Can a mainstream American news organization not discern the proper Christian terminology to use in its articles?

Its most recent article also relies on false information by citing an anonymous witness who cannot be verified, claiming that money laundering and human trafficking were carried out. In response, a university official said, "Newsweek is using unverifiable sources to make false statements to incite public opinion, with constant emails and calls to pressure supervisory agencies to take negative actions."

Why Newsweek Attacks a Christian University

The university official stated that the university became aware of a number of shocking facts about the background of these Newsweek articles.

He said, "Naveed, who is known to have been a double agent spy with Pakistani origins and Muslim ties, was hired by CEO Dev Pragad to write negative articles about Olivet University, a Christian school. He acts like Olivet University faces scrutiny everywhere, but he neglects to mention that he's the one who agitated for that scrutiny at all the state agencies. He stirs up controversy and then reports on it. In the coming weeks, the hidden facts such as these will be revealed in detail."

Additionally, Naveed Jamali's "anonymous" source for false information about Olivet University has been identified as an individual who poses a U.S. national security risk, with dangerous international connections.

The university official also emphasized, "Since when has Newsweek been so interested in Christian universities? They are now writing articles to specifically target a Christian university, to assist their CEO Dev Pragad in his fight to gain ownership of Newsweek." He said that the university was targeted to apply pressure on a rival Newsweek shareholder, whose wife was the former president of Olivet University.

Newsweek also filed a lawsuit last November against Olivet University, alleging damages against the magazine. Shockingly, the magazine continued to publish negative stories before, during, and after its lawsuit against the subject of its own story, in a blatant conflict of interest. Regardless, Newsweek's lawsuit has been dismissed in court.

Newsweek's Own Problems Grow

Newsweek should be concerned about its own issues, instead of writing fake news to slander the normal operations of an evangelical Christian university. It appears that soon Newsweek may have to add a lawsuit from the university to its growing list of concerns.