The LuLac Edition #4,168, November 20th, 2019

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

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This week we give you an editorial from Times Shamrock’s Citizens’ Voice which defends the free press against the assaults of President Trump and his crew of thugs.

NO APOLOGIES FOR REPORTING

American journalism has been under scrutiny as never before due largely to President Donald Trump’s relentless attacks on it.
Journalism and journalists are not perfect but they are not the unscrupulous enterprise and pack of rascals described by the president. Journalism largely has withstood the scrutiny because facts are facts, accountability is accountability and, well, Trump is Trump.
It is harmful to journalism, a constitutionally protected bulwark of U.S. democracy, when journalists themselves unnecessarily buy into the false narratives about the craft.
So it was recently when Troy Closson, editor-in-chief of The Daily Northwestern, the student newspaper at Northwestern University, published an apology to students because the paper’s reporters engaged in reporting.
The case is important because Closson and the reporters are students at Northwestern’s prestigious Medill School of Journalism, and it indicates deep confusion about what reporters are supposed to do in the field.
A large number of Northwestern students turned out recently to protest an appearance on the campus by Jeff Sessions, the former Alabama senator and U.S attorney general who has declared his candidacy to return to the Senate.
Closson apologized because his reporters used the modern tools of the trade, social media, to distribute photos from the event, including of protesters. Some of those demonstrators are members of what Closson described as “marginalized groups” and some of them received some blowback from critics about their participation in the protest.
Reporters’ duly reported on the event as it happened and did not manufacture any of the images that they distributed. Closson should have his reporters’ backs rather than apologizing to people who appeared at a newsworthy, public event yet sought anonymity.
Many professional journalists in the Chicago area admonished Closson for the apology. Unfortunately, Closson’s defenders did not defend his decision but noted simply that many of the pros who questioned him are white whereas Closson is black.
It is true that over generations, elements of the news media has been complicit in racial discrimination and bias. That is rare today, however, and in any case, it cannot be cured by apologizing for legitimate news coverage.