There is a post on Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports from last week that analyzes negative coverage of law schools. The first paragraph sets the tone:
In a recent column, the New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof confessed, “One of our worst traits in journalism is that when we have a narrative in our minds, we often plug in anecdotes that confirm it.” The quote is timely, given recent controversy surrounding New York Times’ coverage.
The decline in law school enrollment and available jobs for graduates is one such narrative. Michael Simkovic’s analysis of newspaper coverage is worth a read. The Wall Street Journal, for example, is far and away the paper that publishes the most negative stories about law school(s). Other fun facts include that the negativity peaked somewhere around 2011 and slowly declined to almost nothing today. I’m guessing that journalist got bored with the story. Check out the charts and other data Simkovic gathered for the piece. Read it here.
Mark
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