Chicagoist: Medill Dean's Quote Unquote Problem

goldenshfinkter

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:11:20 -0600

It's no different than those crappy commercials that come on every day about how you can get a career as a chef if you go to this school or those dopes that you know didn't actually go to ITT, say that they used to deliver pizza but now thanks to ITT there heads of some technology company.

whymustiregister

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:51:04 -0600

What's the NU paper doing? Those kids will never fit in the newsroom if they keep doing fact checking.

Swilly24

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:45:54 -0600

this proves it's not a very good school anyway...........

Amy Mikel

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:42:27 -0600

i only know Templeton as the smarmy rat in charlottes web.

Editor at Large

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:21:45 -0600

We are disappointed that you neglected (abandoned?) to use Gothamist LLC House Style (that is, the formal 'we') in this post in favor of the first person singular pronoun, something we have up to this point hardly ever seen from any contributor, much less the current Editor in Chief.

gbajalia

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:12:53 -0600

I also think they prefer the term medilldos.

gbajalia

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:11:39 -0600

One student "proved" it was anonymous by inquiring as to which class he was referring to, then asking all 29 students if they had said any of those things. Evidently all of the students responded negatively and hence the it was said to be made up.

spookhatespuppies

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:59:34 -0600

On a related note: Anyone watching this season of the Wire? Am I the only one who wants to see Templeton get his?

Mo

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:53:37 -0600

Tower 18, you can't really. But the fact that it's anonymous in the first place is a red flag. I've always been taught to avoid anonymous sources unless there is a good reason (safety, etc), and to give the reason if it is needed. Like in the Daily Northwestern piece, one faculty member was quoted anonymously because s/he feared retribution. And it was stated as such. But if students were praising something, there should be no reason to keep it anonymous. Unless, you know, it was fake.

spookhatespuppies

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:53:08 -0600

I don't think this is a HUGE story, just another nail in the journalism industry's coffin. The internet is revolutionizing journalism and J-schools and media outlets aren't keeping up as fast as innovation is moving. They can't keep making fudge-ups like these if they hope to stay relevant.

Tower18

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:48:24 -0600

How does one prove that an anonymous source is made up?

Jess D'Amico

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:22:08 -0600

medillhos.