Clay Calvert, director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, was quoted in “Harvard Crimson Pressured by Campus Immigration Activists to Bail on Journalism” published in The Washington Post on Oct. 23.

The opinion column by Erik Wemple focuses on Harvard Crimson’s coverage of an immigration protest on Sept. 13. An activist group is now leading an online petition against the paper for contacting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for comment on the situation. The petition alleges that there is a long history at ICE of “surveilling and retaliating against those who speak out against them.”

A letter from the Crimson president and managing editor said: “… we seek to follow a commonly accepted set of journalistic standards, similar to those followed by professional news organizations big and small.”

“What if the story ends up saying something false about ICE or someone else mentioned in the article? A failure to investigate can be evidence of negligence in a defamation suit if something turns out to be wrong,” notes Calvert.

Posted: October 24, 2019
Category: College News, Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project News
Tagged as: Clay Calvert, Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project