When the New York Times covers something, people pay attention. The Times has the power to decide whether something is news -- and to set the tone for public understanding of the material it covers. That power has in turn been balanced by the blogosphere, which frequently features sharp and incisive commentary on the paper of record's reporting. Such was the pattern this week, when the Times reviewed Indoctrinate U--but only, it seemed, in order to discount the film's argument about the repressive climate on American campuses. This involved some remarkable rhetorical acrobatics--author Joe Berger covers the film in order to suggest that the pattern of repression it documents does not exist, and uses a case of censorship at Vassar as the centerpiece of its argument that free speech is alive and well in higher education.
Berger's contortions were not lost on his readers, and a number of bloggers have responded with uncompromising critiques of his logic, his presentation of facts, and his grasp of the issues.
Director Evan Coyne Maloney dismantles Berger's article, noting that it concentrates more on material that isn't in the film than on material that is, and noting, too, that its attempt to discount the film's argument actually winds up confirming it. Maloney submitted his response to the Times in a letter to the editor.
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education president Greg Lukianoff takes Berger to task (cross-posting at the Huffington Post) for his selective and skewed presentation of facts, noting that the hours he spent with Berger educating him about campus speech were apparently wasted and noting, too, that Berger doesn't seem to grasp the difference between free speech and censorship. George Mason University law professor Todd Zywicki agrees.
Sonny Bunch of the Weekly Standard notes that Berger "seems to use Evan Coyne Maloney’s film as little more than an introductory device to tell us how few restrictions are placed on free speech on campus" and contrasts his unwillingness to give Maloney his due to the Times' praise of Michael Moore's Sicko (Bunch also encourages his readers to check out MPI fellow Stuart Browning's health care shorts at FreeMarketCure.com).
Pajamas Media, TimesWatch, Education and Homeschool News, and Power Line all took note.
The fact that the paper covered the film at all shows how seriously the folks at the Times--and elsewhere--do in fact take Indoctrinate U. And the transparent attempt to dismiss Maloney's claims by holding up Vassar's recent censorship episode as proof that free inquiry is alive and well on campus speaks volumes about both the solidity of Maloney's argument and the shaky reasoning of those who wish to deny the validity of the film's claims.