Overview

Northwestern Journalism Controversy refers to the way The Daily Northwestern newspaper covered Jeff Sessions speaking protest on the Northwestern University Campus. In November 2019, the student newspaper covered the student protests and released photos from the protest and one protester's name who agreed to be interviewed. The student journalists used the student directory to contact protesters and ask to interview them. After the article was published the editors of the newspaper apologized for potentially putting the students in harms way and for the way they handled the article in general. Many Twitter users criticized the apology for being unnecessary.

Background

On November 5th, 2019, Northwestern University student and Twitter user @cameron_e_^[1]cook tweeted, "HELLO if you’re a journalist/journalism student who covered the jeff sessions protest PLEASE don’t share photos/video where students’ faces are visible. Chances are they could face repercussions or conduct action" (shown below, left). The tweet gained over 120 likes in a week. The next day, The Daily Northwestern^[2] published the article "Students protest Jeff Sessions’ speech, police presence." Students allegedly criticized the article for exposing them to backlash from the administration. On November 10th, the newspaper published "Addressing The Daily’s coverage of Sessions protests" and shared the article to Twitter^[3][4] (shown below, right).

Notable Developments

On November 10th, 2019, Twitter user began replying to The Daily Northwestern's tweet and criticizing the apology. On November 11th, Redditor ncsiano posted "The Daily Northwestern apologizes for doing journalism after covering Jeff Sessions protests" to r/journalism^[5] which garnered over 29 points (100% upvoted). The editor of the newspaper, Troy Closson, tweeted a thread regarding the controversy, blaming himself for all the decisions made surround the controversy. The initial tweet gained over 1,900 likes in a day (shown below). In the thread he stated, "I appreciate the concerns raised w/ our statement and understand how different parts can prompt worry re: 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."

On November 12th, The school of journalism of Northwestern's Dean Charles Whitaker^[6] released a lengthy statement in which he says:

the coverage by The Daily Northwestern of the protests stemming from the recent appearance on campus by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions was in no way beyond the bounds of fair, responsible journalism. The Daily Northwestern is an independent, student-run publication. 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.

Various Examples

Search Interest

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