Journalismism

I've been keeping an eye on the big to-do up at the Medill School of Journalism up at Northwestern University in beautiful Evanston. John Lavine, the dean of the school, wrote a boastful piece for the alumni magazine, describing some of the new programs in the school, and using some anonymous quotes from students attesting to the quality of said programs. But questions about the anonymous quotes arose, and after a rather convulated path, by way of Romanesko and the Chicago Tribune, things have blown out of control.

Today, Gawker posted this little rundown which goes over the mess better (and snarkier) than I could ever hope to.

But this is the big takeaway from the Gawker piece:

Here's another sacred rule of journalism: Know when to shut the fuck up. This is a situation that probably could have been handled in a 15-minute faculty meeting. But those in academia, as a rule, are constantly starved for attention, and when anyone starts paying attention to them, their instinct is to do anything possible to keep that spotlight shining as long as possible. Journalists, in particular—whether in training, or retired—love nothing better than a scandal that involves them as the good guys.

Awesome.