Northwestern Univ. J-school anonymous quote flap

Three years ago, newspaper veteran John Lavine was named the dean of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. As I blogged last year, Lavine is facing resistance for bringing in web, audio, and video courses into the standard J-School fair.

Changing lifestyles, the internet, and an inability to attract many younger readers have led to a declining subscription rolls, newspapers shutting down, and of course fewer traditional jobs in journalism.

So the students, who dish out $40,000 a year to attend Medill, don't end up jobless after finishing their studies, Lavine changed the curriculum. And there is some resistance among the students and some faculty.

Anonymous quotes, which I use sparingly here by the way, are at the heart of the latest controversy coming out of Medill. Lavine used several of them in a letter to the school's alumni, and first the Daily Northwestern, now the Chicago Tribune, are on the case.

Here are a couple:

"I sure felt good about this class. It is one of the best I've taken,"

A sophomore chimed in, "This is the most exciting my education has been."

Lavine can't track down the students who made those comments.

From the Tribune, free registration may be required:

At Medill, one of the country's premier journalism schools, training in the careful use of unnamed sources is emphasized.

Professors routinely require students to submit names and contact information for every person quoted in their articles as a guard against fabrication.

So Lavine's use of anonymous quotes raised the suspicions of David Spett, a Medill senior and Daily Northwestern columnist.

Spett figured out the marketing class Lavine was discussing, he said Wednesday, and then tracked down all 29 students. He quizzed each one about the "I sure felt good" quotation, but each of them denied saying it, according to his column.

The counter-argument is that Lavine's letter is an opinion piece, so the bar shouldn't be set so high. However, this guy is the dean of major journalism school, to perhaps it should be set much higher.

Related posts can be found before, including information on the Alstory Simon saga.

Anthony Porter case breaks wide open; the Porter story triggered the emptying of Illinois' death row

CBS' 48 Hours tonight to feature Ill. murder case--show likely to feature Northwestern prof tarnished by recent lawsuit (w/exclusive material)

Update on the Anthony Porter/Alstory Simon case

The media and a professor told us Anthony Porter was framed, a Chicago jury disagreed

This case helped empty Illinois' death row: Was it built on fraud?

Northwestern J-school dean faces resistance as he drags it into modern times

CBS' 48 Hours tonight to feature Ill. murder case--show likely to feature Northwestern prof tarnished by recent lawsuit (w/exclusive material)

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