I was interviewed earlier this week by Mark Glaser, author of PBS's MediaShift blog, about an interesting situation involving an "embedded" student blogger at New York University, my alma mater. Because the case involves the intersection of new media (like blogs and Twittering) and classroom speech, I thought it would be interesting to briefly examine here on The Torch.
First, here's the story.
Prior to the start of fall classes, Glaser asked NYU undergrad Alana Taylor if she would be interested in writing reports for MediaShift about her experiences taking new media classes in NYU's Journalism Department. Taylor agreed, and submitted her first post....
Once posted on MediaShift, Taylor's critique quickly found a wider audience, and Professor Quigley wasn't pleased. In an individual meeting with Taylor, Quigley told her that she should have asked permission to blog about the class, and that she violated the privacy of Quigley and her fellow students by writing about the classroom experience. Quigley also informed Taylor that she had violated basic journalism ethics, and that she was not to write, blog, or Twitter about the class in the future.
Quigley is a dipshit who ought to be fired by NYU for gross incompetence. I'm sorry, but only the dumbest of morons could claim to have an expectation of privacy in a classroom setting. I've heard of spousal privilege, doctor/patient privilege, lawyer/client privilege etc., but this is the first time I've heard of "teacher and upwards of 150 students" privilege. No much privacy expectation exists, so this is nothing other than an attempt at censorship carried out under the auspices of a School of Journalism.
See how the "dipshit" thing applies?
No comments:
Post a Comment