Bizarre editorial from the Northwestern student newspaper

I mean...

Addressing The Daily’s coverage of Sessions protests

“One area of our reporting that harmed many students was our photo coverage of the event. Some protesters found photos posted to reporters’ Twitter accounts retraumatizing and invasive. Those photos have since been taken down. On one hand, as the paper of record for Northwestern, we want to ensure students, administrators and alumni understand the gravity of the events that took place Tuesday night. However, we decided to prioritize the trust and safety of students who were photographed. We feel that covering traumatic events requires a different response than many other stories. While our goal is to document history and spread information, nothing is more important than ensuring that our fellow students feel safe — and in situations like this, that they are benefitting from our coverage rather than being actively harmed by it. We failed to do that last week, and we could not be more sorry.”

 

Welcome to the American university, circa 2019.

Anyone who doesn't think the First Amendment hangs in the balance over the next 20 years isn't paying attention. These are its future defenders.

 

Also something weird at Harvard.

Undergraduate Council Votes to Support Act on a Dream Against The Crimson | News | The Harvard Crimson

Seems like some student groups are getting a bit overzsealous.

 

They’re sorry they txted people for comments after getting their number in the directory?

So they’re sorry for using a fucking phone book?

 

Has there been any follow-up? Seems as if the editorial was written in response to several specific concerns. Nothing like having the first question at a job interview be "so tell me about that weird editorial?"

 

Holy shit. They are traumatized by seeing photos of themselves protesting an event in a publication? And the paper's editorial staff agreed and yanked the photos down?

What the hell kind of soft-ass bitches is this next generation made of? Holy shit. I can get that they didn't want their picture taken, but holy shit, the newspaper agrees? WTF is wrong with these snowflake pussies? You can protest in public but don't take my picture? In the age of the smartphone? Are you fucking kidding? Using the phone directory to contact someone is an invasion of privacy? WTF???

I would kick my kid's ass three times if they ever acted like that.

By the way, Read the comments from readers at the bottom of the editorial for some grand entertainment. The paper, staff and school are getting destroyed by alumnus and professionals of all kinds.

 

My gosh I read it all. Northwestern should have its Journalism school CLOSED. Now!

 

Based on the comments at the end, I think journalism will survive ... at least until our generation is dead and gone. Then, well, the shit hits the fan.

 

That part really is like an Onion article. I mean all kids do is text nowadays. So they got phone numbers and texted somebody and those contacted got triggered? That's almost impossible to believe.

 

I went to the twitter feed of J.A. Adande, to see if he had any thoughts about this. (J.A. is now Medill's Director of Sports Journalism, and while this atrocious overreaction by the student newspaper -- in my opinion -- has nothing to do with sports, I'm guessing/hoping Medill has plenty of professionals advising the paper.)

Anyway, he retweeted this, from the paper's student editor-in-chief.

 

So the first thing the editor does is play the race card. Wow. This is astounding beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Journalism really is dead.

 

I don't have a problem at all with him sharing that background.

What I do have a problem with is why the hell the students are wearing this one when the faculty advisors should be speaking up. These students overcorrected severely and are now being left to publicly twist in the wind instead of a person with journalism experience stepping up and stepping in.

Yeah, the students made a mistake, but part of being a good editor/boss/mentor is not letting your staff get buried by a publication-wide mistake and taking on some of the heat yourself.

Adande may be only the director of sports journalism at Medill, but it's not a good look to not be backing many of the students who are part of the program.