News or 'Trauma Porn'? Student Journalists Face Blowback on Campuses

       At Northwestern University in Illinois, the university hosted Jeff Sessions, who was speaking at a lecture hall. Protesters barged through the back door, unsuccessfully held back by police. The next day, a photographer from the university newspaper The Daily Northwestern posted the picture of a student who had fallen over after being shoved by police. The student saw it and criticized the image being posted. The picture was deleted and the newspaper apologized for posting photos like that.
       This follows a wave of college papers clashing with the traditional ways of reporting and the student activists. Heightened criticism of the media has made the working environment harder for student journalists. Some student journalists have responded by adhering to the core tenants of free press while others are struggling to balance the changing expectations of students while upholding the standards of journalism

1990: Students in Kansas burned copies of The University Daily Kansan after an editor of the paper changed the style for referring to African American students from "Black" to "black."

2015: Students at Wesleyan University petitioned to deny funds to their paper after a columnist voiced skepticism about the Black Lives Matter movement. In addition, at the University of Missouri, a publisher removed a journalist who tried to photograph an encampment of student protesters hoping to address racial issues

2019: The Harvard Crimson was boycotted by more than a dozen students over how it covered the story of a student protest calling for the abolition of ICE

News or 'Trauma Porn'? Student Journalists Face Blowback on Campuses

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