Bizarre editorial from the Northwestern student newspaper

I don’t think you’re “telling on yourself”

I also don’t think the editor is playing the race card, per se.

My sense is this editor is feeling some expectations/weight/responsibilities/cultural sensitivities that other editors didn’t feel. That’s not all a bad thing.

The biggest issue I have with the ed is that it’s vague, using buzzword language that doesn’t clearly explain what happened. Almost like it’s a conversation to one small, specific group of people who wanted an apology.

 

These are both good points. Indeed, one of the tells about whether you should be in journalism, ever, or anymore, is if/when you get too bothered, yourself, by bothering people. I had a friend on my college newspaper who was like that. He admitted to hoping, when he called someone, that they would not be home, not answer, that he'd go to voicemail, etc. And he wound up not making a career of journalism.

That wasn't the case with me! And it's still not. I'm still willing to ask anybody just about anything, if I really want or need to know...

And, social media has indeed changed everything about how journalism is now done. Sometimes, I think, we of the previous generation wouldn't even call it journalism, but it is what passes for it these days. It's just the way things are now.

 

To answer a question about the paper's status in the university:

 

If you think that this particular issue is about the fundamental tenant of journalists “bothering” people, it’s not. It’s about The kind of thinking that goes into issuing an apology *for* being a journalist. Why would the paper apologize? When has a paper ever apologize for something like calling up a person out of the blue?

 

Excuse me? You wanna take this further?

 

If I said I *don’t* think you’re telling on yourself then no, I don’t want to take it any further.

 

I agree that it’s a teaching moment.

But these students know how to reach sources. This isn’t about Journalism 101. The apology is rooted in progressive ideology.

 

What the hell does "Retraumatizing" mean?

 

How upsetting this must be for you.

What did you mean to imply when you typed "play the race card"?

 

I've explained it already. Why is he bringing up his race when this has nothing to do with race? What does his race have to do with anything?