Sloppy Journalism for You
Posted on March 31st, 2005 in Uncategorized | No Comments »
This Reuters article about the anti-Semitism debate at Columbia contains the following egregious lines: “The Columbia controversy is one of several freedom of speech issues to hit U.S. college campuses. Harvard University President Lawrence Summers was criticized for comments about women’s aptitude for science…”
The controversy over Summers’ remarks was not a controversy over free speech, despite the attempts of a number of conservative commentators to frame it that way. It was a debate over a university president saying that women in science are held back by genetic shortcomings, which in turn fueled a debate over that president’s leadership style.
No one was saying that President Summers’ 1st Amendment rights have been impairedâno one serious, anyway. This Reuters journalist is editorializing by presenting the Summers controversy that way…