The Daily Northwestern Apologizes to Students for Reporting News That Triggered Them

[mountaineer]

The Daily Northwestern Apologizes to Students for Reporting News That Triggered Them
A newspaper staffed by the country's most famous journalism school says it shouldn't have covered a Jeff Sessions event.
Robby Soave | 11.11.2019 10:09 PM

The Daily Northwestern is the student newspaper of Northwestern University, which is home to the Medill School of Journalism, one of the best regarded journalism schools in the country. Many Medill students work at the paper, reporting on the news.

At least that's what they used to do. If a recent editorial co-signed by the paper's top editors is to be believed, The Daily Northwestern will no longer fully report on campus events if the reporting runs the risk of making marginalized students feel unsafe or upset.

This is no exaggeration: Read the editorial if you don't believe me.

The incident that generated this sniveling, embarrassing apology was a recent visit to campus by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sessions addressed the College Republicans while student activists protested the speech, objecting to the Trump administration's treatment of immigrants.  ...

Full story at Reason

I fell into the job of newspaper reporter many years ago with an undergraduate degree in Spanish and a law degree. In my first year, I won statewide awards for reporting. The two best reporters in our newsroom had been English - not journalism - majors in college. Today's journalism schools do not seem to produce actual journalists or not, at least, reporters interested in telling the facts of a story. Telling the truth is not important anymore. Just ask Jim Acosta, Jake Tapper or anyone on the NYT staff.
Pathetic.

[mountaineer]

Journalism school dean rips into Jeff Sessions protesters for harassing student journalists
Greg Piper - Associate Editor •November 12, 2019

When the student newspaper apologized for the sin of reporting on an unhinged protest against former Attorney General Jeff Sessions at Northwestern University last week, many professional journalists expressed disbelief that college journalists would openly renounce basic journalism practices.

They spent less time focused on the actions of the protesters themselves. The dean of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism has made up for the imbalance.

In a fiery statement Tuesday, Charles Whitaker focused his vitriol on the “vitriol and relentless public shaming” the student protesters had visited up The Daily Northwestern staff, who issued their apology after being “beat into submission”:

    As the dean of Medill, where many of these young journalists are trained, I am deeply troubled by the vicious bullying and badgering that the students responsible for that coverage have endured for the “sin” of doing journalism.  ...

  Rest of article at The College Fix

[Wingnut]

Is there any doubt that the future of "journalism" as it was known is now officially dead. RIP

[mountaineer]

I've told this story before, but things only have gotten worse since then.

Eighteen or so years ago, our editor at the newspaper said we all should go to the conference room to meet the dean of the journalism school at WVU (she's since moved into some other job). She wanted to give a little talk. Wow, what an honor!

So we small-town reporters and reporterettes gathered 'round the table to listen to her. Only one thing she said stuck with me, and I don't mean in a good way. She said the job of the J-school was to train budding journalists how to shape and influence opinion. She did not say it was to train them to write clearly and concisely or to report the news accurately and without bias.

She said (and here I paraphrase) journalism schools exist to create new propagandists.

I looked at one of my fellow reporters as both of our mouths dropped open, and we just shook our heads.

[Wingnut]

I've told this story before, but things only have gotten worse since then.

Eighteen or so years ago, our editor at the newspaper said we all should go to the conference room to meet the dean of the journalism school at WVU (she's since moved into some other job). She wanted to give a little talk. Wow, what an honor!


I looked at one of my fellow reporters as both of our mouths dropped open, and we just shook our heads.

It has been coming for years.  I remember in 1974 I was told an article I wrote about the Fellowship of Christian Athletes was pulled from above the fold and replace with a piece about the Homecoming court.  Before the paste up went to the printer I ripped the HC piece and replaced it with my story.  Best suspension I ever had listed on on my long list of infractions on my permanent record.