SOUTH BEND (IN)
The Observer

Sept. 25, 2019

Anyone who has worked as a college newspaper editor or reporter understands the tremendous burden of carrying a full academic load while simultaneously attending to what feels like a full-time job. That’s why it was remarkable, in addition to its usual coverage of tri-campus events, that The Observer conducted its own enterprise reporting in writing recently about the library funding controversy in St. Joseph County.

By contrast, The Observer relied exclusively on the Washington Post in rewriting its incomplete and unfair portrait of Archbishop William Lori, a panelist Wednesday at the Notre Dame Forum on the Church sex abuse crisis.

The Observer used others’ accounts to report that Archbishop Lori accepted a donation from Wheeling Bishop Michael Bransfield, later accused of sexual harassment and financial misconduct, and that he delayed in disclosing as much.

Yet Archbishop Lori thoroughly investigated the same…