Today, various media outlets have been spouting off about an incident at New York City's Dalton School. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy visited the campus and gave a speech. Naturally, the school paper wanted to publish an article about the event—but Justice Kennedy insisted on approving the article before it was published. According to the New York Times, the justice's office reviewed the article and then sent it back to Dalton with minor edits, including quotes from Kennedy that had been altered “to better reflect the meaning the justice had intended to convey.”
Which may or may not be code for, “to get rid of that slightly-off-topic bit where the justice talked for ten straight minutes about how much he loves Twinkies.”
A school administrator defended the quote-vetting, noting that “Fact checking is a good thing.” While we at SparkNotes absolutely agree that fact-checking is essential (especially after that embarrassing incident where we claimed that the country of France is governed by ten marionettes and a sentient piece of cheese), what happened here isn't exactly fact-checking. It's rewriting. Justice Kennedy (or his assistants) messed with his statements because he doesn't like how they sounded after the fact—which is a practice that would never fly in the real world of working journalism.
On the other hand, this isn't the real world of working journalism. It's a high school paper. So, editorially-inclined Sparklers, it's time to weigh in! Is this an outrage? A mild irritation? No big deal at all? Tell us in the comments!
Topics: Life
Tags: journalism, the supreme court
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