Tuesday, November 17, 2009

From Justice Kennedy, a Lesson in Journalism

A.) This article offers two differing opinions on the subject of 'quote reviewing'. Justice Anthony Kennedy had spoken at a Manhattan high school, and the school's newspaper wanted to cover a story about the speech. However, Justice Kennedy's office insisted on approving the article before publication under the pretense that it wanted to "make sure the quotations attributed to him were accurate". The school's newspaper complied, and the draft of the article was returned with altered quotations. The article gives varying perspectives from two adults, one insisting that "fact-checking was good", while the other argued that it was "an exercise in image control".
B.) It's kind of a given that this article applies to journalism, as it deals with borderline censorship and freedom of press. It questions whether it is acceptable for anyone - including a Supreme Court Justice - to request a quote review. In terms of our class, I think this article should motivate us to do a flawless job of acquiring quotations. If we know what we recorded is right down to the last period, we can be confident in what we publish - even if a Supreme Court Justice is questioning what we wrote.
C.) I think it's almost misleading of the article not to specifically tell readers who requested the quote review - it's one thing if it was his office, and another thing entirely if it was the Justice himself, in which case I would consider him incredibly hypocritical. So I do wonder who it was that actually made the call to The Daltonian.
I also noticed how the article neglected to give the students' perspective on all this. It had two differing opinions from adults and included a comment from The Daltonian's facultly advisor. But not a word from the students, who were directly affected. I'd like to know if they think it's okay for anyone - with or without prestige - to alter the newspaper they worked so hard to produce.