Chicago Reader: Medill Faculty Doesn't Take a Stand

The Chicago Reader's Michael Miner today reported on a series of resolutions that were voted on by the Medill faculty. Miner called the resolutions an exercise of the faculty spinning its wheels.

Miner also reports on communication between Medill Professor David Protess and NU Provost Daniel Linzer regarding the legitimacy of Linzer's investigation.

See the full story here. 

NEW: FREE PIZZA AND TALK WITH DEAN LAVINE

What: The Undergraduate Student Advisory Council and JournalistsSpeak.blogspot.com will host a planning session with Dean Lavine to look at issues of transparency and accountability – unnamed sources, trust in media, news and advertising relationship, etc.

There will also be a chance to ask the dean questions.

The point of the meeting will be to figure out what topics beyond these should be part of a quarter-long focus to learn and to improve what Medill can do in class, in our publications and in how each of us practices journalism. Be prepared to add your ideas for what should happen in Spring quarter.

Where: McCormick Tribune Forum Room
When: Wednesday, March 12
Time: 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Come for the Free Pizza. Stay because you care about journalism.

Zorn: Questions Growing, Not Going Away

The Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn today wrote that inadequacies in the investigation into the veracity of the Dean's unattributed quotations are creating more questions, rather than allaying concerns of fabrication:

See the full article.

Daily: 'Similar' Not Good Enough

The Editorial Board at the Daily Northwestern published an Editorial in today's issue of the Daily Northwestern calling the Provost's investigation inadequate:

"For journalists, similar is not good enough. There is no point in tape recording and note-taking if a journalist can remember the basic idea from a source and present it as verbatim speech. Those working in public relations can tweak statements in order to prevent their bosses from sounding unintelligent, but reporters cannot rewrite quotes at leisure. If a person doesn't say a particular statement, it does not belong within quotation marks."

See the full opinion here.

Tribune editor: Investigation a 'bunch of spin'

Tribune editor Margaret O'Brien (Medill MSJ '99) and member of the "Save Journalism" Facebook group criticized the Provost's investigation of alleged ethics violations by the Dean in a comment posted this weekend on the group's wall. (JS.blogspot.com contacted O'Brien to authenticate her statement and publish it with her permission):

The provost's letter reminded me of the Washington Post reporter who had to give up her Pulitzer in the 80s after it was discovered the kid Jimmy in her story was a "composite" gleaned from other research. The difference is Ben Bradlee offered a humble apology while the super-resumed committee found enough to make a similar composite and said that was good enough.

I'm disappointed, mostly in the process. They owed a bunch of journalists a better investigation. Not a bunch of spin.

Results from the Provost's investigation

The provost's office has conducted its investigation of Dean Lavine and sent us this message this morning:

To the Medill Community:

As you are doubtless aware, concerns have been raised about certain passages in the "Letter from the Dean" which appeared in the Spring 2007 issue of the Medill Magazine, the school's alumni publication. In particular, questions were raised about the use of unattributed quotations, with some people going further to question the veracity of those quotations.

The first issue is one of editorial policy, and Dean Lavine in a recent message has pledged that the policy will be changed to require attribution for all quotations in Medill publications. The allegation regarding possible fabrication is, of course, very serious, whatever the type of article or publication. Thus, I appointed an ad hoc committee to review the available information and to advise me regarding these issues.

The committee consisted of three Medill graduates who have had distinguished records of achievement in journalism and the media. The committee included Jack Fuller, a Pulitzer Prize winner who served as editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune and whose books include the highly-regarded News Values: Ideas for an Information Age; Teresa Norton, a member of the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University and the Medill Board of Advisors, former managing editor of Crain’s Business Insurance magazine, former award-winning partner of Hewitt Associates management consultants, and retired founder of Vineyard 29 Enterprises; and Paul Sagan, co-chair of the Medill Board of Advisors and also a member of the University's Board of Trustees, who has served as news director of WCBS-TV in New York, co-founder and vice president for news of the New York 1 News cable network, president and editor of new media at Time, Inc., and is currently president and CEO of Akamai Technologies.

The committee unanimously concluded that although a record of the student statements that were quoted cannot be found, sufficient material does exist about the relevant storefront reporting experience and marketing course to demonstrate that sentiments similar to the quotes had been expressed by students. Thus, the committee found that there is ample evidence that the quotes were consistent with sentiment students expressed about the course in course evaluations and no evidence to point to any likelihood that the quotes were fabricated. The committee further stated that the author of a piece like the "Letter from the Dean" could not reasonably be expected to have retained for a year the notes or e-mails documenting the sources of quotations used in the letter; nonetheless, the committee advised that in the future such meticulous archiving might be desirable given the heightened awareness of the problems that can result.

I accept the committee's conclusions. While I join Dean Lavine in wishing that material demonstrating the sources of the quotations was readily available, I have determined that no violation of University policy has occurred in connection with the Spring 2007 "Letter from the Dean." I have confidence in Dean Lavine to continue to lead the Medill School of Journalism.

That so many people - including students, faculty, and alumni - expressed views on this matter testifies to their deep commitment to Medill. I hope you will join me in supporting the Medill School and its leadership as it works to ensure that the School's storied role and distinguished reputation as a leader in journalism education continue as it and the profession face the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Daniel Linzer
Provost

Provost: No Violation of University Policy

Northwestern University Provost Daniel Linzer issued a statement today concluding Dean John Lavine did not violate University Policy in his use of unnamed sources.

Linzer's decision was based on the review of an ad hoc committee of three Medill graduates and experienced journalists. Two of the committee members serve on the Medill Board of Advisers.

Linzer's statement does not comment on whether Lavine's actions violated Medill's internal policy.

Daily: Three Groups Meet to Discuss 'Quotegate'

The Daily Northwestern reports that three groups held separate meetings on Wednesday to discuss how to proceed with the Dean's quote controversy.

We, the creators of journalistsspeak.blogspot.com, met Wednesday to discuss plans for a forum to take place during reading week.

The Medill Student Advisory Committee and the Medill faculty both held separate, closed-door meetings, as well.

We'll bring you the details of those meetings as they become available.

*Just a clarification, since the Daily Northwestern article (although we appreciate the coverage) has a couple of errors in it.

1. Tricia Bobeda, one of the four blog contributors, is a junior, not a senior.
2. No alumni were present at our meeting, although we hope to involve them in this process moving forward.

Chicago Tribune's Zorn: DEAN MUST PROVE HE DIDN'T FABRICATE QUOTATIONS

The Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn today provided evidence confirming the veracity of David Spett's reporting and concluded the Dean must now prove he did not fabricate the quotes he wrote in an article for the Medill Magazine.

In his article, Zorn publishes the reporting of Medill Professor David Protess who conducted a taped interview with the dean, and contacted the five possible juniors in the class who could have said the quotates the Dean attribute a junior as saying. Protess confirmed "All the students denied saying the quote, even when I promised not to print their names." Protess provided Zorn with emails and notes as proof of his reporting. Zorn said he independently confirmed Protess' reports that the five juniors denied ever saying the quotes.

It seems to me that this puts the ball squarely back in Dean John Lavine's court; that a great preponderance of evidence now suggests that "a Medill junior" did not speak or write or otherwise communicate those words to him, and the burden's on him to prove otherwise.

Read the full article.

Washington Post Continues Coverage

The Washington Post published an article on early Saturday morning continuing to probe the controversy revolving around Dean Lavine's use of annonymous sources.

Check out the article.

240 Students/Alumni Sign Statement

Medill seniors Aaron Gannon, Emmet Sullivan and Margaret Matray delivered a statement signed by 240 Medill students and alumni to the offices of NU President Henry Bienen, Provost Daniel Linzer and Dean John Lavine late this afternoon.

The statement calls for more conversation and explanation of the quotation controversy.

See the whole statement here.

LATEST: Dean Issues Statement

Dear Medill Colleagues and Students,

In the middle of the controversy over two letters to the alumni that I wrote last year in Medill magazine, I want to make what for me is a very important point.

I have been in journalism for more than 40 years as a reporter, editor, publisher and educator. I do not make up quotes.

But I did exercise poor judgment, and I apologize for that. I used a quote from a student in a letter I wrote in the Spring 2007 issue of Medill without naming the student. I should have asked permission to use the student's name with their comment about the IMC 303 class.

Although our alumni magazine has run unattributed direct and indirect quotes before, as your dean I must ensure that the magazine, as one of the many public faces of the School, should operate with the highest possible standards.

Medill faculty teach our students that journalism should be transparent. It is a mistake when I don't set the best example I can. Just as our faculty set high classroom standards for students learning to be journalists, as dean I should exhibit those standards.

Today I met with the Dean's Council, a group of 14 faculty and staff members who are deeply involved in teaching and in administering the school. We agreed to review the standards for all work published under the Medill banner. I will set up a faculty committee this week to begin that process.

I had hoped to write this letter earlier and quickly settle this controversy by providing the emails and notes I used as the basis for the letter to alumni. I and others searched my email from a year ago. Then we tried to retrieve email that had been deleted at the time when the article was written. After extensive efforts on the part of Microsoft, they said that after five days, the system my office uses permanently deletes messages that I have deleted, and they cannot be recovered.

My second mistake was that I did not save the notes I took in the IMC class. That was careless and something I knew never to do as a reporter.

Now, the matter has been referred to NU Provost Dan Linzer's office and until that review is complete, I have been asked to hold further comment. I am anxious to more fully discuss this matter with you when the Provost's work is done.

Sincerely,

John

Lavine on Medill 2020 in '06 Interview

or click here if the player doesn't work on your web browser.

Blog Creators Craft Statement

The creators of this blog want to give students a chance to voice all of our opinions and organize our thoughts into one unified voice. We agree with the faculty statement, but we think that students have unique concerns that need to be addressed.

The point of this blog is to start a conversation among the Medill community that is not anonymous, inflammatory and/or libelous.

To that end, we have sent this statement to Medill students and alumni and urge them to join the 240 students and alumni (and counting) in signing this petition to be sent to the dean and administration by the end of the week. The facebook group "Save Journalism at Medill" created by the blog contributors has 252 members.



If you have not received the petition but want to sign it, email savejournalismatmedill@gmail.com

Be heard. Be part of the conversation.

Is this 'worth all the screaming and fussing'?

Alumnus Terry Sacks doesn't think so. The Chicago Tribune quoted the 1948 Medill graduate in its most recent coverage. Sacks told the Tribune the controversy bothered him more than Lavine's use of unidentified sources.

The Tribune gave journalistsspeak.blogspot.com contributor and Medill junior the last word.

Tricia Bobeda, a Medill junior who created the Facebook group, questioned why Lavine hasn't discussed the issue with students.

"Now that this is out in the open, this is an issue of journalism ethics and it needs to be discussed," she said. "I don't want the dean's actions to be reflective of the standards of the school."

The Daily Northwestern published an editorial today about the dean's handling of this situation as well.