Three media-related follow-ups to this morning's post on the arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters at Northeastern University.
• As I noted earlier, university spokeswoman Renata Nyul issued a statement in which she cited "virulent antisemitic slurs, including 'Kill the Jews'" as a precipitating factor in ordering that the encampment be dismantled and the police be brought in. Now there are reports that "Kill the Jews" might actually have been uttered by a pro-Israel counter-protester.
GBH News reporter Tori Bedford tweeted, "I did hear 'kill the Jews,' said by a counter-protester holding an Israeli flag, seemingly as a provocative joke in response to the group's pro-Palestine chants. Not sure if that's the specific incident @Northeastern leadership is referring to." She also shared a video provided to her by Huskies for a Free Palestine.
Northeastern's student newspaper, The Huntington News, acknowledged in an update at 12:15 p.m. today that the statement was indeed made by a counter-protester, and The Boston Globe has added this: "The student group behind the protests disputed that claim, saying that no one in the encampment shouted slurs, and that it was a counter-protestor who yelled 'Kill the Jews.'"
• Earlier this morning, I read in the Globe that reporters had been asked by police to leave the scene. But when I went to write it up, that passage was gone. Sarah Scire of Nieman Lab, though, saved it and posted it on Twitter:
I don't know why the Globe deleted that section from its story. Maybe a judgment was made that the officer was directing their statements to bystanders in general rather than journalists in particular. It also sounds like advice rather than an order. As for whether the Globe should have acknowledged the edit, I'll just observe that it's pretty standard for news outlets to revise and delete in their online running coverage. Good practice? Maybe not. But hardly unusual.
• Student reporters were told to back off from the immediate scene after police officers surrounded the encampment. In an update posted today at 5:30 a.m., the News published this: "Several members of The News' staff were asked to move outside the barricade." That does not strike me as inappropriate as long as the reporters were allowed to remain close enough to observe what was going on. Still, it's worth noting.
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