The Wrong Lesson: Teaching College Reporters to Be Meek

I felt like the article “The Wrong Lesson: Teaching College Reporters to Be Meek” was a very interesting piece, one that I thought maybe took aim more specifically at private religious universities than they did others. The author made some good points about the censorship of young up and coming college journalists and I am inclined to agree. Truthfully, it is up to each school to set its own policies and such, but it hardly seems honest or unbiased to have policies that outlaw freedom of speech or publications that expose your flaws. In today’s corrupted world, I find it refreshing to pick up a newspaper or a magazine and read something other than celebrity gossip. I would prefer that my news came from a reporter who isn’t afraid to snoop around and go places others wouldn’t for fear of the repercussions.

Overall, I liked David Wallis’ style of writing he seemed notably crude using phrases such as, “scared the living shit out of him”. He seemed really passionate about the subject, not nearly as passionate as the author of “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women” but passionate nonetheless. The argument was actually more effective than I anticipated it to be. When I first started reading the article, I didn’t expect it to sway me or motivate me in anyway, but after reading it I felt outraged that universities would go to such extents to quiet their journalists. What really got me was Chris Carroll’s’ story about the freshman who essentially was strong-armed into giving up journalism. It is appalling that universities are even allowed to have such policies and indeed I do feel that parents should not allow their students to attend institutions that silence journalists and are apparently anti-freedom of speech.