I've explored the unusual interest Newsweek has developed in covering a private Christian college known as Olivet University (OU) in a feature for the University Herald last year.

Readers of Newsweek who've followed that coverage might be forgiven for assuming that OU is a hive of criminality, with claims of human trafficking, forced labour and a range of other crimes.

This week, however, federal authorities confirmed that OU has no case to answer. Which begs the question of how an allegedly respectable news outlet got it so wrong and what consequences they may face for their materially damaging actions.

Before we answer those questions, it's worth examining the exact nature of Newsweek's coverage and whether there was a shred of truth to any of it or if any of their dire predictions came to pass.

Coincidentally, Newsweek's intensified interest in OU, with which it is associated, began in early 2022, shortly after Newsweek CEO Dev Pragad threatened to drop a "nuclear bomb" on the group.

Newsweek's editorial team has previously claimed that it is completely independent of Pragad's influence and that its coverage of OU is about holding its proprietors to account.

Our previous University Herald article on this makes clear that this is obvious nonsense. Unless Newsweek believes itself to be the property of OU, no proprietor is being held to account, least of all Dev Pragad.

Broadly speaking, Newsweek's coverage of OU falls into three categories: guilt by association, circular reporting and conspiracy theory. All three categories appear to have the singular purpose of aiding Pragad in his legal cases.

On at........

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