Super-Serious Law Student Gets Out Of The News Business

Law student newspapers are one big teachable moment.

RESIGNATION — GEORGETOWN LAW WEEKLY

I cannot in good conscience continue to work for The Law Weekly. I resign as [REDACTED], effective immediately.

I want to make it clear that my reason for leaving this organization has nothing to do with workload or time commitment. I would happily work five times as much on the paper if I believed the rest of the staff was committed to making it excellent. But absent that commitment, I do not think The Law Weekly can become a newspaper I can believe in. I do not believe I could work hard enough alone to make it a paper to which I could attach my name and in which I could invest my reputation as a journalist, so I am forced to withdraw from its staff.

I believe strongly in student journalism and in holding student publications to high professional standards. I believe that all journalists have a duty to produce an excellent product — even if no one reads it — and I do not believe it is ever acceptable to produce a low-quality product merely because it meets readers’ expectations. I cannot subscribe to the philosophy that I have seen demonstrated among this paper’s staff that producing a poor product is alright because this is “just” the law school newspaper.

I understand that not everyone who enjoys putting out a newspaper feels compelled to do so under the kinds of standards I expect, and I do not judge those who do not share my beliefs. I simply am not prepared to give up the values I hold as a journalist to participate in an organization in which I find no sympathy of motive or similarity of ideology.

I have little doubt that my reasoning will draw criticism of up-tight-ness or unreasonability, and that is as it should be. The Law Weekly should define for itself the style with which it approaches managing and producing its product, and it should exclude from its staff those who would expect it to be otherwise than its leadership imagines it to be. I am not the kind of journalist that belongs at The Law Weekly.

Thank you for trying to understand. I hope you will harbor no hard feelings as a result of my decision — I certainly retain my respect for you as an individual and admire your stepping up to fill The Law Weekly’s need this semester.

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I’m sorry. Best of luck.

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