Northwestern University’s student newspaper is receiving national attention for its coverage of a Jeff Sessions protest, sparking debate between student and professional journalists alike about practices when reporting on marginalized identities.
Former U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions arrived on campus Nov. 5 as the Northwestern University College Republicans’ (NUCR) guest speaker. The Daily Northwestern reported that around 150 protesters gathered outside Lutkin Hall where Sessions was speaking, chanting phrases like “Hey, hey JBS, you got us into this mess” and “I-C-E, KKK, how many kids have you killed today?”
Officers of the Northwestern University Police Department (NUPD) were present, barring protesters from entering Lutkin and tackling several students to the ground, according to The Daily.
Shortly after the article about the protest was published and circulated around Twitter, protesters angrily lashed out, citing the photographs in particular as harmful.
“Colin please can we stop this trauma porn,” protester Ying Dai wrote on Twitter, addressing photographer Colin Boyle directly. “I was on the ground being shoved and pushed hard by the police. You don’t have to intervene but you also didn’t have to put a camera in front of me top down. As a fellow photographer i know how this works & 20 other ways to document this”
The images have since been removed from Boyle’s Twitter account, and from The Daily’s articles. However, heavy backlash from students ensued. Protesters attacked The Daily’s photographs depicting minority students’ struggles with NUPD officers, and the reporters’ use of the student directory to contact potential sources.
“The students at Northwestern were protesting Jeff Sessions, who spent his entire career promoting anti-immigrant laws,” Caroline Orr, a reporter for the National Observer, wrote on Twitter in defense of The Daily. “What if some of those students were undocumented? Publishing their photos could have put them on the radar of ICE, and potentially led to their deportation.”
Amidst the unrelenting assault from student protesters, The Daily issued an apology on Nov. 10 that was signed by the entire editorial board.
The publication acknowledged Dai’s complaint that the photographs taken were “retraumatizing and invasive,” and that the reporters’ use of the student directory was an invasion of privacy. The apology also addressed The Daily’s choice to remove a protester’s name from the original article, since Northwestern, unlike some other universities, does not grant amnesty from disciplinary action to student protesters.
“We failed to (consider our impact in our reporting surrounding Jeff Sessions) last week, and we could not be more sorry,” the apology wrote.
Almost immediately, the article caught fire. Now that student journalists at The Daily were intimidated into apologizing for basic journalistic practices, the integrity of journalism as a whole was in jeopardy. Professional journalists across the nation took to Twitter to scorn the Daily’s decision to go against basic journalistic principles, and even The New York Times wrote two articles concerning the controversy.
“How is it possible that a newspaper at what is allegedly a top journalism school would apologize for the basics of reporting?” Glenn Kessler, editor and chief writer of the Washington Post’s Fact Checker, wrote on Twitter. “This is a travesty and an embarrassment.”
The Daily Northwestern is the City of Evanston’s official paper of record. Yet, as a student-run endeavor in which student journalists are reporting on their peers, the Daily dances a fine line between empathizing with fellow students and providing objective news coverage.
Medill Dean Charles Whitaker issued a nearly 1,300-word statement on Nov. 12, addressing the tension between students on campus and the Daily’s actions. He denounced the student activists who threatened journalism students on social media, asking them instead to critique The Daily’s coverage of a public protest at a “civil level of discourse” that the community deserves. Additionally, the dean sternly requested that the swarms of outraged alumni and professional journalists “give the young people a break.”
Whitaker recognized the Daily’s good intent and sensitivity to its student community, but ultimately stated that the apology “sends a chilling message about journalism and its role in society.”
“To be sure, journalism has often bowed to the whim and will of the rich and powerful, so some might argue that it is only fair that those who feel dispossessed and disenfranchised have their turn at calling the journalistic shots,” Whitaker wrote. “But that is not the solution.”
Ultimately, the protest and ensuing coverage controversy led to a larger discussion about reporting on minority groups while remaining true to journalistic standards.
“We know we hurt students that night, especially those who identify with marginalized groups,” The Daily wrote in its apology.
Daily editor-in-chief Troy Closson is one of the few Black EICs in The Daily Northwestern’s 135-year history. Some people who rose to The Daily’s defense, like Wesley Lowery on Twitter, noted that Closson’s “sincere desire to not harm marginalized campus group[s] is publicly decried by industry’s most powerful (White) journalists.”
In light of the protest, Northwestern’s Associated Student Government Senate drafted a resolution to protect disenfranchised communities. The legislation, which passed 28-2 with two abstention votes, demanded that the University reconsider its attendance policies for students of marginalized identities and provide peaceful engagement training to NUPD, The Daily reported. However, President Morton Schapiro and Provost Jonathan Holloway announced that students should not expect to seek attendance leniency, and that police acted accordingly because everyone — including Jeff Sessions and the NUCR — should be allowed free speech on campus.
“It’s pretty simple,” Holloway said during a family weekend event. “The answer is no… (Students need to) learn how to make choices and bear responsibility for those actions. That can be inconvenient at times.”
Prof. Mei-Ling Hopgood addressed members of the Northwestern Asian American Student Journalists (AASJ) yesterday evening, saying that she saw Asian Americans on all sides of the controversy. As the club adviser for both AASJ and the National Association for Hispanic Journalists’ (NAHJ) Northwestern chapter, and the only Asian American professor at Medill, Hopgood has been leading discussions about being journalists of color in wake of the Sessions incident.
Asian American students like Dai actively participated in the protest, while NUPD commander Eric Chin called the police force “multi-faceted” when students complained that police presence created a more threatening environment, according to The Daily. Similarly, Asian American students across disciplines could be found siding with The Daily for the apology, or against it.
Despite the deeply divided debate around The Daily’s decision to apologize, one thing stands clear among all communities across campus: more diversity within news coverage and news staff is desperately needed.
“We need more diversity among our student journalists (and in journalism writ large),” Whitaker wrote in his statement. “We need more voices from different backgrounds in our newsrooms helping to provide perspective on our coverage. But regardless of their own identities, our student journalists must be allowed—and must have the courage—to cover our community freely and unfettered by harassment each time members of the community feel they have been wronged.”
AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. Check out our new Instagram account. Go to our Twitter feed and Facebook page for more content. Please consider interning, joining our staff or submitting a story.