On April 20, Linda Greenhouse, the Knight Distinguished Journalist in Residence and Joseph Goldstein Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School, delivered the 26th annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression in Beckham Hall. Greenhouse, who covered the U.S. Supreme Court from 1978 to 2008 as a New York Times reporter, spoke about “Writing the Truth in the Age of Trump.”
Greenhouse said that traditional norms in journalism, such as insisting there are two sides to every story, were “sorely tested” by the 2016 campaign and “ultimately found wanting.” Such norms establish a false moral equivalency between two positions where often no equivalency exists, she said.Greenhouse continues to write op-ed columns on law, and her memoir, Just a Journalist, will be published in the fall. She received several major journalism awards during her career at the Times, including the Pulitzer Prize (1998) and the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism from Harvard University’s Kennedy School (2004).This annual Hugo L. Black lecture is endowed by Leonard S. Halpert, Esq. ’44, and named in honor of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice. (Photos by Rebecca Goldfarb Terry ’17)
Bill Holder
James Sims
Editorial Staff
Ziba Kashef