Once again, mime has dropped the ball and I'm the one who must bring important news to your attention.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/02/05/northwestern-roiled-by-criminal-charges-against-two-students-who-made-parody-copies-of-student-paper/
The Daily Northwestern is sacred in Chicago journalism, especially at
Trib. The J school at Northwestern is named for Joseph Medill, who
co-owned Trib and made it the main voice of the Republican Party
during the last decades of the 19th century. Medill was a one-term
mayor of Chicago (two years terms, consecutive terms were not
allowed) and an important politician in the state's politics during
the Progressive Era. The reform constitution of 1870 was drafted and
passed with his help.
Plenty of Trib staffers over the years attended Medill and worked on
the paper.
To maintain independence from the university, the student newspaper is
owned and published by its own corporation and pays rent on its office
space at the student unions, and otherwise reimburses the university
for expenses incurred. The paper sells advertising and is supposed
to make a profit. Of course the editorial staff are volunteers.
Two students printed a parody of the newspaper's front page to accuse
the university of complicity with Israel concerning civilian deaths in
Gaza. It was called Northwestern Daily. Everyone who saw it understood
it was parody.
The student newspaper is no longer a daily, despite the name. It's
published Mondays and Thursdays. On Wednesday, October 25, 2023, the
parody was published by distributing it on campus and, in some cases, wrapping it around remainder copies of Monday's edition of the student newspaper, copies that would have otherwise been tossed when the
Thursday edition was placed.
That it was attached and not distributed separately is what allowed
criminal charges to be filed. Somebody worked incredibly hard to find
a crime to charge, theft of advertising services, a class A
misdemeanor. The wrap was treated as the advertisement, which was not
paid for.
The complaining witness represented the corporation and campus police
made the arrest. Many decades ago, campus security became sworn police officers. They are now in the remodeled Rotary Club headquarters
building and I have a feeling there's a custody suite.
The men were taken into custody but released on site with court
appearances.
It's my understanding that police just file misdemeanor charges
without approval from the state's attorney, unlike felony charges. The university doesn't have its own prosecutor (some municipalities do) so
the state's attorney prosecutes.
The student editorial board wrote a condemnation of the arrests in an editorial (which is how the story got into the Trib), and numerous
faculty and students signed petitions asking that charges be dropped.
If this had happened when I was a student, I'd have objected to the
arrests too.
After being embarassed in the Trib, Kim Foxx dropped charges.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/02/07/amid-controversy-cook-county-prosecutors-drop-charges-against-students-accused-of-distributing-fake-daily-northwestern-page/
Once again, mime has dropped the ball and I'm the one who must bring >important news to your attention.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/02/05/northwestern-roiled-by-criminal-charges-against-two-students-who-made-parody-copies-of-student-paper/
The Daily Northwestern is sacred in Chicago journalism, especially at
Trib. The J school at Northwestern is named for Joseph Medill, who
co-owned Trib and made it the main voice of the Republican Party during
the last decades of the 19th century. Medill was a one-term mayor of
Chicago (two years terms, consecutive terms were not allowed) and an >important politician in the state's politics during the Progressive Era.
The reform constitution of 1870 was drafted and passed with his help.
Plenty of Trib staffers over the years attended Medill and worked on the >paper.
And it gets better.
The nonprofit publisher of The Daily Northwestern, the student newspaper
at Northwestern University, backpedaled.
They were shocked SHOCKED to learn that the prank was pulled by...
students! They had no idea. Now they are real real sorry they called the police after calling a lawyer to find the incredibly obscure law the
kids could be arrested under.
btw, somebody said the law was an anti-KKK law. I guess the Klan had
inserted unpaidfor advertising into newspapers and the legislature
wanted to make it a misdemeanor offense.
Then they found out the students were black. Now they are really sorry.
Incredibly, they claim that they had no idea that calling police, then signing a complaint, would result in arrest!
Who knew?
The two kids weren't taken into custody. They were given written
citations and notices to appear in court.
The publisher is very concerned about how traumatizing the experience
must have been. Omygawd
https://dailynorthwestern.com/2024/02/06/top-stories/students-publishing-company-we-will-intercede-with-states-attorney-on-charges/
A genuine apology looks like this:
Obviously, it was a prank, but the anti-Israeli rhetoric offended us. We
were pissed and called the cops. It backfired upon us. We are
withering in the face of criticism from much of the University
community.
We are sorry.
On Feb 13, 2024 at 4:50:22 PM PST, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
And it gets better.
The nonprofit publisher of The Daily Northwestern, the student newspaper
at Northwestern University, backpedaled.
They were shocked SHOCKED to learn that the prank was pulled by...
students! They had no idea. Now they are real real sorry they called the
police after calling a lawyer to find the incredibly obscure law the
kids could be arrested under.
btw, somebody said the law was an anti-KKK law. I guess the Klan had
inserted unpaidfor advertising into newspapers and the legislature
wanted to make it a misdemeanor offense.
Then they found out the students were black. Now they are really sorry.
Incredibly, they claim that they had no idea that calling police, then
signing a complaint, would result in arrest!
Who knew?
The two kids weren't taken into custody. They were given written
citations and notices to appear in court.
The publisher is very concerned about how traumatizing the experience
must have been. Omygawd
https://dailynorthwestern.com/2024/02/06/top-stories/students-publishing-company-we-will-intercede-with-states-attorney-on-charges/
A genuine apology looks like this:
Obviously, it was a prank, but the anti-Israeli rhetoric offended us. We
were pissed and called the cops. It backfired upon us. We are
withering in the face of criticism from much of the University
community.
We are sorry.
Even that sounds like a "we're sorry we got caught, not sorry we did it" sort >of apology.
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