High praise for the student journalists at Columbia University

The nation turned its eyes — and ears — to Columbia University on Tuesday night.

While pro-Palestian protests over the war between Israel and Hamas have swept college campuses across the country, Columbia has been a major focus. On Tuesday, more than 100 people were arrested there.

And who had among the best coverage of it all?

The student journalists at Columbia University. That includes the Columbia Spectator newspaper/website and the radio station WKCR, which has been broadcasting pretty much around the clock.

Part of it is because of access. Because they are students, they can be on campus. But a big part of it is because they are good reporters.

On Wednesday, Jelani Cobb, the dean of the Columbia Journalism School, sent a lengthy and deserved congratulatory memo to the faculty, student journalists and the CJS community at Columbia, praising the journalists’ work.

Cobb wrote, “We believe that journalists have a fundamental right to cover the news. Your efforts turned those sentiments into reality.”

Cobb laid out the timeline of events Tuesday evening and night – which included police arriving on campus and eventually making arrests – while pointing out the chaos and difficulty for everyone involved.

He wrote, “… there are few things we can be proud of in this difficult and trying moment. I cannot keep up with the number of people who have emailed, texted or even called to tell me how impressed they are with the work we have done in the past two weeks. It was truly inspiring to see our faculty and our students, shoulder to shoulder, covering a national news story that emerged on our doorstep.”

Cobb addressed the students directly, writing, “You are a part of history now. Your perseverance during a confusing and challenging moment cannot be understated. You told the stories the global public deserved to hear. You helped the School meet its mission.”

And, more importantly, for those following their impressive work, they helped us understand what was going on.

Columbia isn’t the only place student journalists are leading the coverage. Earlier this week, Teen Vogue’s Angie Jaime wrote, “9 Student News Outlets to Follow for Ongoing University Protests Coverage.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 400 people have been arrested on college campuses across the country.

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Meanwhile …

There have been reports that some student journalists across the country have been assaulted and threatened with arrest.

Gary Green — executive director of The Student Press Law Center, a nonprofit organization that “aims to promote, support and defend press freedom rights for student journalists at high schools and colleges in the United States” — put out a statement Wednesday. He started with, “As the nation has seen firsthand this week, student journalists have a unique and essential role on their campuses in observing and disseminating news. It is precisely in times of crisis like these when such coverage is needed the most and student journalists are at their best.”

After mentioning the assaults and threats of arrest, Green wrote, “Student journalists must not be attacked or threatened with arrest or disciplinary action for merely doing their jobs. We urge administrators and law enforcement to work directly with student journalists to ensure they can safely and responsibly report on the historic events unfolding across the country. Now is the time to strengthen our commitment to the student press, not sideline or undermine it.”

Speaking of student protests …

I wanted to point out this smart piece from The New York Times’ Alan Blinder: “What the First Amendment Means for Campus Protests.”

The story looks at a confusing topic of interest: Can the right to protest cross a line, and if so, what exactly is that line? And what can and should happen if that so-called line is crossed?

Binder writes, “Protesters on college campuses have often cited the First Amendment as shelter for their tactics, whether they were simply waving signs or taking more dramatic steps, like setting up encampments, occupying buildings or chanting slogans that critics say are antisemitic. But many legal scholars, along with university lawyers and administrators, believe at least some of those free-speech assertions muddle, misstate, test or even flout the amendment, which is meant to guard against state suppression.”

Binder then goes into detail about the issues at hand and talks to experts in First Amendment matters. Give it a look.

Nevermind …

Back in March 2022, then-Washington Post media reporter Paul Fahri tweeted about his own newspaper: “Some internal news: In response to Putin’s threats against reporters in Russia, the @washingtonpost

will remove bylines and datelines from stories produced by our journalists in Russia. Goal is to ensure staff’s safety. Been around a while. Never seen anything like this.”

This was, of course, a couple of weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Russia. At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law targeting journalists for any coverage he deemed unfavorable about the war.

Later in the year, it was learned that Fahri had been suspended by the Post for that tweet. Max Tani, who was at Politico at the time, wrote that Fahri had been suspended five days without pay. According to documents after the union stood up on Farhi’s behalf, the Post claimed Farhi had “jeopardized the safety of a colleague as well as the ability of The Washington Post to report in a foreign country.” The Post didn’t comment at the time, but it’s believed to have been about what Farhi had tweeted.

Fahri fought back, with the help of the union, claiming he wasn’t given a chance to appeal his suspension — something he and the union believed to be his contractual right.

Well, on Wednesday, Fahri — who took a buyout from the Post late last year and has been writing for The Atlantic — tweeted his suspension has been ​​rescinded and the week’s pay he was docked has been restored.” (It should be noted that Farhi taking the buyout was totally unrelated to any of this matter. He was and is a respected media reporter and was in good standing at the Post when he left.)

Farhi explained in another tweet that “The Guild took the Post to court for unilaterally terminating a contractual right (the right to appeal a suspension) after our last contract expired and negotiations began on a new deal. The Guild lost suit at trial and appealed.”

The Post eventually agreed to settle the case and a District of Columbia court signed off on it, bringing the issue to a close.

Farhi thanked the guild for taking up his case, adding, “Not to pile on the Post, which I revere, but my tweet was a factual and accurate description of the Post’s editorial policy, which the Post itself announced a few hours later.”

Important stuff

This week, Poynter is publishing installments from “Shut Out: Strategies for good journalism when sources dismiss the press,” which is Poynter’s report from a symposium by the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership about the growing trend of sources bypassing independent reporting.

Here’s the main PDF written by Fernanda Camarena and Mel Grau and edited by Jennifer Orsi and Poynter president Neil Brown: “Shut Out: Strategies for good journalism when sources dismiss the press.”

Media tidbits

• My colleague Rick Edmonds, Poynter’s media business analyst, with “Gannett hits pause button on its promise to restaff its smallest papers.”
• The Associated Press’ David Bauder with “News organizations have trust issues as they gear up to cover another election, a poll finds.”
• The Daily Beast’s Corbin Bolies with “Why Did The Hollywood Reporter Scrub This Juicy O.J. Column?”
• MSNBC president Rashida Jones will be this year’s commencement speaker at the University of the District of Columbia and will receive an honorary doctorate during the ceremony.
• For The New Yorker, Kyle Chayka with “The Revenge of the Homepage.”
• The Wall Street Journal’s Katie Deighton with “The Last Stock Photographers Await Their Fate Under Generative AI.”

Hot type

Quite the story here for Boston Globe Magazine from Patricia Wen: “The secret lives of Shelby Hewitt, 32-year-old high school imposter.”

For The New York Times, Marcus J. Moore with “5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Jazz Bass.”

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].

More resources for journalists

• Reporting on the Rise of AI: A RAND-Poynter Masterclass
• June’s Lead with Influence is for women and nonbinary leaders to develop their political clout.
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