November 3, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Carol Pardun, AEJMC President (803) 777-3244, pardunc@mailbox.sc.edu
Bill Cassidy, AEJMC Newspaper Division Chair, (815) 753-7005, bcassidy@niu.edu
Students Investigate Old Conviction; Prosecutor Investigates Students;
AEJMC Urges Subpoena Quash
According to a New York Times story
by Monica Davey, prosecutors in Illinois have subpoenaed the "grades,
grading criteria, class syllabus, expense reports and e-mail messages"
of students involved with Northwestern University's Medill Innocence Project
who investigated whether a man convicted of murder three decades ago
had been wrongfully convicted. Prosecutors reportedly want to discover
whether there were links between new information learned by the
students and their grades. A hearing is set this month at the Cook
County (Illinois) Circuit Court regarding this issue.
AEJMC's position is that this highly unusual request is
inappropriate for three reasons: 1) The Medill journalism students
should be protected under the Illinois state shield law; 2) If the
court grants the prosecutors' request, journalism students involved
with similar projects would think twice about criticizing governmental
actions if personal information, such as grades and e-mails, could
become public; and 3) Journalists should not be treated as instruments
of the State.
AEJMC strongly urges the judge responsible for this case to quash
the subpoena and direct prosecutors to investigate the evidence
uncovered by the journalism students in a timely and unbiased way.
This statement was issued by the President of AEJMC and through the President's Advisory Council.
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