Apology From Northwestern's Student Newspaper Sparks Controversy

EVANSTON, IL — An editorial published Sunday by the editors of the Northwestern University's student-run newspaper apologizing for the paper's coverage of an appearance on campus by former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions prompted pointed criticism from many alumni and a response from the head of the university's prestigious journalism school.

The editorial said the paper's coverage "contributed to the harm students experienced" and explained why staff of the paper removed the name of a protester it quoted and deleted photos from the protest.

"Some protesters found photos posted to reporters’ Twitter accounts retraumatizing and invasive. Those photos have since been taken down," said the Nov. 10 editorial, which was signed by eight editors of the Daily. "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."

The Daily Northwestern operates independently from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. It publishes five print editions a week during the school year, covering the university and Evanston with a volunteer staff. The Society of Professional Journalists named it the best all-around daily student newspaper in the country in 2017, and it received the Illinois College Press Association's top award in 2019, according to its website.

Last week, Sessions spoke at an event on the Evanston campus at hosted by the student-run Northwestern University College Republicans titled, "The Real Meaning of the 'Trump Agenda,'" and around 150 protesters showed up to protest him, the Daily reported. Some tried to interrupt the talk by climbing through windows of Lutkin Hall or entering through a back door before being tackled by members of the university's private security force. As students pounded on the door and chanted profane slogans, Sessions described the protests as "stupid," according to the Daily.

"You shouldn’t be blaming young Republicans for meticulously defending their beliefs and putting up with this kind of trash," Sessions told attendees. Following the Nov. 5 event, the former attorney general announced plans to seek to recapture his former U.S. Senate seat in Alabama.

According to the Northwestern University College Republicans, the Daily declined to publish a letter to the editor from its executive board following Sessions' appearance.

"We believe that the protestors attempting to shut down Mr. Sessions under the mantle of protecting diversity ultimately harm that cause. Their behavior challenges the diversity of thought at the core of Northwestern's mission," the letter said. "We are saddened by the fact that a portion of our campus is so vehemently opposed to the fundamental free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. Their ludicrous attempts to shut down free speech threaten our liberties, inflame partisan polarization and do nothing to address the policy issues that cause such outrage."

In addition to addressing why the staff of the school paper deleted a protestor's name and photographs of the event, the Daily's editorial described it as an "invasion of privacy" for its reporters to have contacted their fellow students via text message to ask whether they wished to be interviewed.

"As a campus newspaper covering a student body that can be very easily and directly hurt by the University, we must operate differently than a professional publication in these circumstances," it said.

"Ultimately, The Daily failed to consider our impact in our reporting surrounding Jeff Sessions. We know we hurt students that night, especially those who identify with marginalized groups."

The editorial, which was, in part, a response to criticism of the coverage from progressive student activists, was followed by another wave of backlash on social media from older generations of journalists. Many accused the school paper of apologizing for doing journalism. Protesters in public should have no expectation of privacy, professional journalists noted, and asking permission to interview people does not qualify as an invasion of privacy.

National news outlets, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, soon picked up the story. The editor of the conservative National Review Online called the student newspaper a "national embarrassment." A Chicago Sun-Times columnist and 1982 Medill School of Journalism grad — it has since been rebranded as the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications — questioned whether the school "now emphasizes turning out equivocating corporate shills and candor-challenged public spokespeople to produce the kind of limp, pathetic, moral abdication offered by the staff of The Daily Northwestern."

The Daily's editor in chief, Medill senior Troy Closson, responded to the criticism Monday in a series of tweets.

"Our statement addressed some legitimate areas of growth we noticed in our reporting, but also over-corrected in others," Closson said in a tweet. He noted he was only the third black editor in chief in the paper's 135-year history.

"Being in this role and balancing our coverage and the role of this paper on campus with my racial identity — and knowing how our paper has historically failed students of color, and particularly black students, has been incredibly challenging to navigate," Closson said.

"I appreciate the concerns raised [with] our statement and understand how different parts can prompt worry [regarding] the values we have as a student newspaper. We aren't unclear about our rights as a newspaper to cover student protest, but also understand the need to do so with empathy," he added.

Medill Dean Charles Whitaker responded to the coverage in a statement issued Tuesday. He said the student journalists had been under attack for doing what all journalists are encouraged to do.

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.

Like those student journalists, I, too, have been approached by several student activists who were angered by the fact that they and their peers were depicted on the various platforms of The Daily engaged in the very public act of protesting the Sessions speech. I have explained to those activists that as Northwestern’s — and the city of Evanston’s — principal paper of record, The Daily had an obligation to capture the event, both for the benefit of its current audience as well as for posterity. I have also offered that it is naïve, not to mention wrong-headed, to declare, as many of our student activists have, that The Daily staff and other student journalists had somehow violated the personal space of the protestors by reporting on the proceedings, which were conducted in the open and were designed, ostensibly, to garner attention.

Whitaker, a former senior editor at Ebony Magazine who took over as dean in July, said there were no shortages of examples of situations where journalists have lacked cultural competency while covering marginalized communities, but this was not one of them.

"I understand why The Daily editors felt the need to issue their mea culpa. They were beat into submission by the vitriol and relentless public shaming they have been subjected to since the Sessions stories appeared. I think it is a testament to their sensitivity and sense of community responsibility that they convinced themselves that an apology would affect a measure of community healing," Whitaker said.

"I might offer, however, that their well-intentioned gesture sends a chilling message about journalism and its role in society. It suggests that we are not independent authors of the community narrative, but are prone to bowing to the loudest and most influential voices in our orbit."

Whitaker called on critics to give the student journalists a break and to refrain from making judgements about them.

"Journalism is under assault in a variety of spheres," he concluded. "But my hope is that we at Northwestern can model ways in which a community can promote freedom of the press while also demonstrating how we conduct healthy and respectful debate."

Read more:

• The Daily Northwestern's Nov. 10 editorial: "Addressing the Daily's Coverage of Sessions Protests"
• Medill Dean Charles Whitaker's Nov. 12 statement on The Daily Northwestern's coverage of campus events