Northwestern Students Face Obscure Criminal Charges for Mock Anti-Israel Newspaper

After placing a pro-Palestinian front page over Northwestern's student newspaper, two students face "theft of advertising services" charges.

Two Northwestern University students are facing criminal charges after they placed a fake front page on the school's student-run newspaper that charged the university with being "complicit in genocide of Palestinians."

The students were charged under a little-known Illinois statute that criminalizes inserting an "unauthorized advertisement in a newspaper or periodical." As a result, the pair face up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine each.

On October 25, 2023, two unnamed students placed a mock front page on around 300 copies of the school's newspaper, The Daily Northwestern. The students created a page of a parody newspaper, called The Northwestern Daily, with a front-page headline reading "Northwestern complicit in genocide of Palestinians." Additional stories had headlines like "Out of Meal Swipes" and "NU wants to Air-Drop a photo." The page also featured a mock advertisement for Birthright Israel, a program that provides free trips to Israel for young Jewish adults, reading "One man's home is another man's former home!"

Students at @NorthwesternU put these fake newspaper covers in classrooms, dorms, and other buildings across campus. The caption under the photo repeats the blood libel that Israel bombed a Gazan hospital. Will we get a comment from university president Michael Schill this time? pic.twitter.com/cLR7ElDYPz

— Zach Kessel (@zach_kessel) October 25, 2023

The incident sparked criticism among pro-Israel advocates. Fox News contributor Guy Benson called the mock page "straight-up literal terrorist propaganda….It includes an ad suggesting the real student newspaper is sponsored by the you-know-who's." 

According to The Intercept, Students Publishing Company, The Daily Northwestern's parent company, announced that it had "engaged law enforcement to investigate and find those responsible."

As a result, the students were ultimately charged with "theft of advertising services." The crime stems from a law that, according to The Intercept, only exists in California and Illinois and was originally passed to prevent the Ku Klux Klan from inserting leaflets inside newspapers.

"I have never seen anyone charged with theft of advertising," one lawyer who previously supervised Evanston-area public defenders told The Intercept.

The pair's charges have sparked controversy—including from staff at The Daily Northwestern. The student paper's editorial board wrote on Monday, "While the students' alleged actions may violate Illinois law, we believe SPC's decision to engage the criminal justice system during this investigation was unnecessary and harmful."

The Students Publishing Company board of directors has resisted claims that the charges sparked by their choice to involve law enforcement are inappropriate. 

"This act of vandalism interfered with the rights of student journalists to publish and distribute their work," they wrote in a Monday statement. "Just as you cannot take over the airwaves of a TV station or the website of a publication, you also cannot disrupt the distribution of a student newspaper."

Comments

[MWAocdoc]

With somewhere upwards of a million local and federal laws and regulations on the books in the United States it would be impossible to find and challenge every one of them – even the ones from 1817 - that were never taken back off the books. Under the U.S. system, we have to wait until someone, somewhere is adversely affected personally by some stupid law in order to challenge not only the charges but the stupid laws themselves in order to get them nullified. Fortunately, some of those laws are immediately repealed locally as they come to light by the few sensible officials we have left in America. I predict that THIS atrocity will have to go all the way to the Supreme Court to get it nullified.

[Rob Misek]

Israel is ON TRIAL in the highest international court in the world for committing genocide aka a holocaust in Gaza. They are continuing to bomb refugee shelters while on trial.

WHEN Israel is found guilty bibi and all his complicit ministers and military leaders will swing on the gallows.

Nations like the US, signatories to the genocide convention who are aiding Israel’s crimes against humanity will also be found guilty and become pariahs on the world’s stage forever.

You’d think people and institutions would be distancing themselves already from the fallout from the disaster supporting the apartheid state of Israel has always been.

It’s obvious that students are.

[TheReEncogitationer]

The student in this case were violating the property rights of the campus newspaper by interspersing their bullshit propaganda in with the pages of the newspaper against the owner's or administrator's consent.

In other words, it's the very kind of vandalism that your fellow Aryan Pure Supermen would pull against media that you hate.

And by the way, the South Africa where the court is making charges of genocide against Israel not only has the original historical legacy of Apartheid, but has a capitol Johannesburg which is now the rape capitol of the world and turns a blind eye to murderers of Afrikaaner farmers to seize their land, and seeks ethnic cleansing of non-majority indigenous tribes, so this regime has no place speaking on any other regime's record on human rights!

As always, Herr Misek...

Fuck Off, Nazi!

[Rob Misek]

Way to advocate for apartheid fuckwit.

You can swing along with bibi.

[TheReEncogitationer]

You're the one creaming his Nazi uniform slacks over a court in South Africa ruling against Israel!

By the bye, the Afrikaner intellectuals who implemented Apartheid in South Africa we're inspired by both Nazi conceptions of "race" and the Soviet "Nationalities Policy" of internal passports for the various nationalities and ethnic groups within The Soviet Union.

So you're light-years closer to Apartheid than I could ever be as a Libertarian!

And if you ever try finishing what Hitler started, you'll have 118 million armed potential American Partizans to fear, and they may think hanging's too good for you and your ilk and try slower methods of execution!

Fuck Off, Nazi!

[mtrueman]

"a court in South Africa ruling against Israel!"

The court was in The Hague, Netherlands, and there were 15 or so judges from a variety of member states, none were South African. It was a South African team of lawyers who presented the case against Israel, and the judges found there was a plausible case to be made which meant a continuation to next stage.

"inspired by both Nazi conceptions of “race”

Not quite. You are giving the Nazis too much credit. It was Germany's experience of perpetrating genocide against the people of today's Namibia that informed Nazi ideas of race and purity. Hermann Goering's father was the governor of South West Africa in the years before the genocide.

Göring left South West Africa in August 1890 without having been able to settle the constant friction between the Herero and the Oorlam people.[6] The expected vast gold deposits started a gold rush of German settlers and investors, whose behaviour further alienated the Herero. This eventually led to the Herero and Namaqua genocide (1904–1908). Herero skulls were eventually used by the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics, (funded in part by the Rockefeller foundation) which pursued a policy of eugenics.[1]

The genocide is covered in two novels by Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, V and Gravity's Rainbow if you into the whole book thing.

[mtrueman]

"so this regime has no place speaking on any other regime’s record on human rights!"

South Africa is a member state of the UN, like Israel. Also like Israel South Africa are signatories to treaties covering everything from the humane conduct of war, to genocide, and treatment of refugees.

[TheReEncogitationer]

South Africa's UN membership doesn't change it's bloody hypocritical record on human rights, both before and after ending the real Apartheid!

Fuck Off, Watermelon Rickshaw Nazi Boy! You and Herr Misek can both join Pinky and The Brain in their rat cage!

[mtrueman]

"South Africa’s UN membership doesn’t change it’s bloody hypocritical record on human rights"

It gives them standing to bring charges of genocide against Israel. Other members of the UN, even ones you might approve of, could have brought the charges, but they didn't.

"it's" is incorrect here. The possessive pronoun is "its" without the apostrophe. Confusing, I know, and you're not alone. If I were in the mood to quibble, I might point out that "her" is the preferred usage when the subject referred to is a country or a ship. But I'm not in the quibbling mood so carry on.

[TheReEncogitationer]

I’ll carry on with or without your lead, as will Israel, Watermelon Rickshaw Nazi Boy!

[JFree]

In Charleston SC, horses are still required to wear diapers on the street. I'm sure it's been a long time since that law was challenged but it's probably about time.

A 'jubilee year' for sunsetting all statutes might be an interesting idea. Of course, religions now don't even accept the original jubilee idea so they won't accept the idea.

[TheReEncogitationer]

The law was written when horses were the principal means of transportation and the diaper was like the equine version of the muffler and catalytic converter for toxic biohazard exhaust. In other words, the law was meant to protect Life, Liberty, and Property from manure-borne pathogens and if anyone still rides horses on Charleston streets, it should still apply.

There is no “Jubilee,” religious or otherwise, on protecting Life, Liberty, and Property for Libertarians. And though you may not think so, Life, Liberty, and Property belong to all individuals by Natural Right, whether Jew or Gentile.

[mtrueman]

"In Charleston SC, horses are still required to wear diapers on the street."

The law is probably a lot more relevant today than it was when it was first enacted. My grandparents told me of their days collecting horse dung off the streets of Liverpool for use as fertilizer in their gardens. I'm sure they weren't alone. Today? A more squeamish generation would be demanding diaper laws if they weren't already on the books. Dog shit is a much bigger problem as it turns to dust and we breathe in the germs causing all sorts of stomach ailments.

[Longtobefree]

Unintended consequences of anti-klan laws.
Well damn!

[Ken Arromdee]

Who would have expected to have a law meant to keep an organization that attacks Jews from putting their propaganda in someone else's newspaper, to be used to keep an organization that attacks Jews from putting their propaganda in someone else's newspaper?

That's not an unintended consequence. It's exactly what the law was meant for in the first place.

[Rafjxael Pohss]

This is one of those situations where I have zero sympathy for the accused. The use of this law is indeed perfect. It's like the US legal system still has a tiny reservoir of antibodies left over from fighting off a bad case of KKK, and this related antisemitic conspiracy theory virus is spreading and those dusty old antibodies are suddenly useful.

On the other hand, emotional cases like this do tend to make for bad laws. And they weren't quite advertising to recruit members, so it's not a perfect match. That pesky First Amendment does permit odious speech, and at the end of the day it's not the piggybacking on the newspaper that pisses me off, it's the odious slanderous antisemitic speech itself.

[Ed Grinberg]

If these assholes want to "spread the word" about how evil Israel is, and how wonderful Palestinians are, more power to them. But do it without messing with other people's newspaper! They're getting what they deserve.

[TheReEncogitationer]

My thoughts exactly! This is a law protecting private property rights of media outlets such as campus newspapers.

And though the acts of the Klan may have prompted making the law, the law presumably doesn't single out the Klan, otherwise it would be an Unconstitutional bill of attainder.

[TheReEncogitationer]

It's not exclusively an anti-Klan law. It's an anti-violating private property rights law and thus cromulent with Libertarianism

[Dillinger]

>>The crime stems from a law ... originally passed to prevent the Ku Klux Klan from inserting leaflets inside newspapers.

the ironing is delicious.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Ironing? Are you making delicious sandwiches?

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

Maybe waffles?

[TheReEncogitationer]

The Klan doesn't do ironing, nor actually do they force their Ladies Auxillary to do it. They get out wrinkles with the white-hot heat of their hate.

[Michael Ejercito]

Hamas does not dso much ironing either.

though at the moment they are getting a lifetime supply of lead.

[TheReEncogitationer]

Quite witty! Chumby and Utkonos press all of us into action, don't they?
🙂
😉

Speaking of The Dynamic Duo of Punnery, where are they? I miss them both.

[Public Entelectual]

Only the vulgar touch un-ironed newspapers

[TheReEncogitationer]

Nice Rev. Artie impersonation!
🙂
😉

[MrMxyzptlk]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

What I want to know is what assistant district attorney leafed through old law books to find that gem of a law?

[Roberta]

I just hope this and the Michigan parental manslaughter case each get the Lehto's Law treatment on YouTube. Probably better analysis than here. Amirite?

[Roberta]

Let's see if I got the facts right: Students put out a newspaper that they give copies away of gratis. Other students then get a boxful, substitute a phony front page, and replace them.

[MasterThief]

I'm a little confused about what point in the printing and distribution process they inserted their fake page. I suppose that's essentially defacing the newspapers. It's about the same as drawing mustaches on every paper before distribution. Call it a prank if you want, but the school doesn't have to take it as a joke.
Further, they printed defamatory claims and shouldn't be surprised by retaliation.
The law being used here seems like it poorly relates to the offense. Can't say I'm too sympathetic towards them so long as the result isn't terribly punitive

[mtrueman]

"I’m a little confused "

The article links to a longer piece in The Intercept. That might clear things up for you. They don't appear to have 'inserted' the page, as it's a front cover parody page, and would appear on the outside. The original newspapers don't appear to have been 'defaced' or damaged in any way.

"but the school doesn’t have to take it as a joke."

I agree, and the more seriously they take the parody, the more they underline America's complicity with the genocide.

[Social Justice is neither]

Downstream of that local businesses buy advertising in original paper and expect it to abide by it's rules, instead gets associated with pro-terrorist, anti-social school propaganda. I can see the harm, if tenuous.

They could have gotten their own advertisers or just included their sheets where they wouldn't be mistaken for being from some other organization.

[Stuck in California]

Also, they used the actual paper's headline and layout and everything, so it could easily be confused with the real paper.

Free speech says you can mock someone's trademark, but you can't use it for your own in a way that might be confused with the original. This could be construed as being an actual message from the newspaper, so adding your own stories in that manner displaces whatever the owner of the trademark would choose to do with the space. Like putting your own ad on someone else's billboard, or hacking someone's webpage so your message is the first thing that appears when someone types in that URL.

It's a stretch, but I'm guessing that's how they're justifying the charges.

[Mickey Rat]

Yes. Substituting their own page with a controversial editorial slant is fraudulent and defamatory to the publishers of the newspaper.

[mtrueman]

"Also, they used the actual paper’s headline and layout and everything, so it could easily be confused with the real paper. "

The parody paper seems to have consisted on one sheet that was placed over the original paper, leaving the original intact under the parody cover. I don't get the impression that any 'substitution' was involved. Also the name of the parody sheet was 'Northwestern Daily,' not 'Daily Northwestern' and the contents were not the typical apopologetics for genocide, but a parody of them. It seems implausible to assume that anyone would have taken the parody for the real thing.

[TheReEncogitationer]

There are no apologetics for genocide for upholding Israel's right to defend the existence of their citizens!

Fuck Off, Watermelon Rickshaw Nazi Boy!

[mtrueman]

"There are no apologetics for genocide for upholding Israel’s right to defend the existence of their citizens!"

You're engaging in some very typical apologetics right here. Namely, that Israel has the right to commit genocide when defending her citizens. All this in spite of Israel being a signatory to the UN's treaty on genocide which needless to say, offers no such exception.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Would you all make up your mind? Am I supposed to hate the Jews or hate the people who hate the Jews?

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

Can we take each individual on their own merit?

[TheReEncogitationer]

If they wanted to make a parody version of The Daily Northwestern and give them out separately from the actual newspaper, that is certainly their right to free expression as much as MAD Magazine. or National Lampoon.

But using the actual copies, paper boxes, and/or facilities of The Daily Northwestern and piggy-backing to misrepresent the newspaper against the consent of the owners or administators is something else entirely. And the parody makers would have to have access to these pieces of newspaper property to pull this off.

I don’t know if “theft of advertising services” would be the right term for it, but I’m sure Editors of Reason wouldn’t like it if, say, a Trumpster did it with their publication and they would no doubt want something legally done about it.

It is noteworthy and telling that Hamas apologists feel that they have to pull shit like this to get their ugly, stupid views into the ideasphere.

This is about like those Christian Evangelicals who use fake $1 Million bills to publish the text of their tracts, not to mention give them out instead of actual tips to service workers who survive on tips. Dastardly and bastardly.

[Davy C]

"Access"? It's a student newspaper. They're typically just left in piles and any interested students grab one.

[Michael Ejercito]

The alleged conduct does not seem to fall within the First Amendment, so a state could, consistently with the Fourteenth Amendment, criminalize the alleged act.

Is this the case here? Would these charges satisfy the rule of lenity?

[TheReEncogitationer]

This was true of my University’s campus newspaper too, but Northwestern may have had newspaper display boxes that the activists looted to replace with their own broadsheet.

Also, someone who did this deed may have had unauthorized access to the newspaper’s printing and distributing facilities, so a charge of trespassing may be in order as well.

There’s much more to this story than Emma covered. There must be a reason she was bellowing for her Goddamn drink.
🙂
😉

[Nazi-Chipping Warlock]

"Just as you cannot take over the airwaves of a TV station or the website of a publication, you also cannot disrupt the distribution of a student newspaper."

Except... clearly it didn't interfere with the distribution of the paper, because if it hadn't been distributed, nobody would have noticed, and there would have been no outrage.

It's gross, but fuck, this prosecution is worse.

[MasterThief]

If you rip off the front page of every paper would that count? It sounds like that's more akin to what they did. I agree that they're twisting the law here, but think it's fair to say they're guilty of something

[Michael Ejercito]

The question is if that something is a crime.

[AT]

The crime stems from a law that, according to The Intercept, only exists in California and Illinois and was originally passed to prevent the Ku Klux Klan from inserting leaflets inside newspapers.

If that was its intent, then it seems appropriately used in this case. Hamas supporters/apologists (aka "Palestine") and the KKK are two branches of the same violent racist hateful tree.

[Michael Ejercito]

How would the rule of lenity apply?

[AT]

Don't know. Judicial discretion I suppose.

Moot anyway, charges were dropped.

[TheReEncogitationer]

This is true, but the law would apply to anyone, not just racist, Antisemitic hate groups.

For example, if Adbusters put their publication over or interspersed with the campus newspaper, without the owner's or administrator's consent, that would be against the law too.

[Michael Ejercito]

Is this a plain application of clearly established law?

Or is this a novel application of "of criminal laws to unprecedented circumstances"?

https://archive.is/57pIb

[Minadin]

We pick the best heroes to champion.

[Mickey Rat]

"Northwestern Students Use Fraud and Deceit to Defame Publisher and Editors of Student Newspaper With Anti-Semitism, Criminal Charges Ensue"

Fixed that headline.

[TheReEncogitationer]

Couldn't have said it better myself. Reason the publication has strayed far from Libertarianism if they don't recognize this

[JFree]

The Students Publishing Company board of directors has resisted claims that the charges sparked by their choice to involve law enforcement are inappropriate.

That SPC board of directors is a fundamentally dishonest and corrupt organization. In my experience, even in high school, these sorts of oversight boards were mostly students with a couple of faculty/alumni/parents to make sure adults were in the room. This board is almost entirely faculty/alumni with only one student/nearstudent who was once an editor/staff.

It's interesting looking at the various letters/editorials since late October in that student paper about this incident.

[DFG]

The paper's board of directors just put out a statement regretting the prosecution because they just found out the perps were black. They are now hiring lawyers to get them off. If the perps were white I wonder if they would have the same reaction, HA! JK

[TheReEncogitationer]

Well if that's true and the campus paper doesn't defend it's own to right to freedom of expression with it's own property, then I don't want to hear one damn word from them about speech codes!

Damn! It seems like there are no heroes anymore!

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.