April 24, 2007

Page 1

Yeltsin dies

Social scene Groups put time and money into on-campus parties, PAGE 3

*

Former Russian president passes away in Moscow, PAGE 4

LZJ W. basketball

pHHBHR Duke players react to the hiring |of their new head coach PAGE 9 iHHn* I

The Chronicle 1 f

Times lax coverage comes under scrutiny Professors' Some observers charge that reporters were too sympathetic

to

DA Nifong

BY IZA WpJCIECHOWSKA THE CHRONICLE

It was the best ofThe Times, it was the of The Times. Often regarded as a national newspaper of record, The New York Times has recendy come under fire for its coverage of the Duke lacrosse case. In the year since the story first broke, The Times has been criticized for printing news with a slant favoring Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong and for drawing out the amalgam of sex, race and class issues that contributed to the case’s prominent position in the national spodight. “I think The Times’ coverage was heartbreaking,” said Daniel Okrent, who served as the first public editor of The Times from Ocnews tober 2003 to May 2005. “I understand why they analysis jumped on the story when vhe thiey did. but it showed everything that’s wrong with American journalism.” The newspaper began its coverage of the case last year with a front-page article March 29, and continued to publish more than 20 articles within the next two weeks and more than 100 articles to date. “Here was a story thatfit a template that they recognized and thought was a productive one... a story about privilege, a story about town and gown, a story about how race is handled in America,” said Jack Shafer, editor at large for Slate.com and author of several articles criticizing The Times’ coverage of the case. After the March 29 article, The Times maintained coverage on the sports pages and inside news pages until a highly criticized 5,600-word article by Duff Wilson and Jonathan Glater ran Aug. 25 as The worst

,

gifts lean left for 'OB by

Shucm Parikh THE CHRONICLE

_

FILE

PHOTO/THE CHRONICLE

DuffWilson (right)received criticismfor a lengthy article on lacrosse that he cowrote for the NYT inAugust, 2006. Times’ lead story. In an August article for Slate.com Stuart Taylor, a columnist for the National Journal and a former Times reporter, said Wilson and Glater’s piece “highlights every superficial incriminating piece of evidence in the case, selectively omits important exculpatory evidence and reports hotly disputed statements... as if they were established facts.” He also criticized the article for relying heavily for evidence on a 33-page report by Sgt. Mark Gotdieb and three pages of handwritten notes that had been made exclusive to The Times. Gotdieb wrote the notes after the initial investigation and told defense lawyers he was “relying... on his

memory”

to write a chronological report of the investigation, The Times reported. “[lt] was the worst single piece of journalism I’ve ever seen in long form in a newspaper,” Taylor said in an interview with The Chronicle. He added that many of the paper’s articles—most of which were written by Wilson—were pro-Nifong and downplayed much of the defense’s evidence. “About the time Nifong dropped the rape charges [Dec. 22], they brought in a more serious reporter, and their coverage began to sound more like a newspaper and less like a propaganda organ for a transparendy abusive prosecutor,” Taylor added. SEE NYT ON PAGE 8

As the nation’s primaries for the 2008 presidential election approach, a number of Duke faculty and staff have offered their support to candidates financially—and all have leaned to the political left in their contributions. Four Democratic candidates—Sen. Barack Obama, D-111., Sen. Joe Biden, DDel., former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson—received donations from University faculty and staff during the primaries, according to figures collected by the Federal Election Commission through March 31. Several faculty BJ members who donated said that although they hope their preferred candidate H will win, they plan to sup- W it port any Democratic § nominee who wins the primary. “To be frank, once we move out of the primaries I will pick another Democratic candidate to give financial support to,” said Fred Schachat, associate professor of cell biology. Obama received the most support with five faculty donors committing at least $2OO to his campaign so far, according to the FEC. Edwards received donations from two members of the *

Jl

SEE CAMPAIGN ON PAGE 5

Group helps build networks, business sense by

CatherineButsch THE CHRONICLE

The Network for Future Executives may be the only organization on campus that hosts a charity pub crawl one night and sells Thai paper lanterns to decorate dorm rooms the next—all while helping students secure internships at Goldman Sachs. Launched in Fall 2006, NFE aims to gather Duke’s most talented, driven and business-minded students and prepare them to be leaders both at Duke and in their careers,

NFE members have launched five initiatives this summer, including Dorm Craft, Drink for Durham and Bus Tracker.

said NFE President Collin Walter, a senior. “We’re not just developing our members into banking machines,” said senior Jonathan Schafler, NFE’s executive vice president “We’re developing them into leaders, people who are comfortable solving challenges in the business world.” Along with Walter and Schafler, Joel Rodriguez, Trinity ’O6, and Steve Meyer, Trinity ’O6, came up with the con-

*

*

cept for NFE while on the executive board of Devils Delivery Service, Inc. in Spring 2006, Walter wrote in an e-mail. Along with current seniors Taylor Jacobson and Meg Bourdillon, a Chronicle staff member, the group’s founders began developing an organizational structure. “We seemed to all have very similar feelings about what was right and what wasn’t right about the existing business organizations at Duke,” Schafler said. “We saw the opportunity to increase the professionalism, selectivity and the collective commipnent to a business organization at Duke.” Walter said he started NFE to supplement the services offered by the Career Center, which has officially endorsed the organization. “I noticed that there were some things that the students couldn’t get from the Career Center,” said Walter, who worked as a part of the Career Advising Team. “I found that SEE NFE ON PAGE 5


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.