Spring Break
Don't Think For A Moment I'll Wax Nostalgic
Kyle Thomas
Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: Commentary
Two of my colleagues have resigned.
Two of my colleagues have resigned and if today were not my last day as commentary editor of The Daily Campus, I would be the third in line in this abruptly formulated exit parade.
Indignation is a roughly appropriate term to describe my emotions at the moment. I feel betrayed as a member of this organization. But, more than that, I feel guilty that you as students will really never get a chance to hear the news.
That is the way newspapers work - sorry. If there were an in-house struggle over at USG, The Daily Campus would cover it. If two members of SUBOG had had enough of sloppy leadership and quit, well, The Daily Campus would cover that too. But, that is not what happened. This time, the trouble resides in a small brick building next to Buckley, one of my homes for the last two years.
If you think for a second that the paper as an organization can ever truly be held accountable to the standards it likes to impose upon others around campus, cease in doing so immediately. The paper cannot even be held accountable to itself.
The only way the paper is held accountable is when students or administrators sit down to write a letter to the editor about what errors we - as eager and budding, yet wholly inexperienced journalists make. But we receive fewer letters to the editor than mistakes made, so there goes accountability, out the window yet again.
Maybe the paper would be right to employ an ombudsman, an independent, neutral observer, employed for a non-repeatable one-year term to read the paper and write a column every two weeks on what went wrong in its reporting or coverage. This mini-Clark Hoyt could be a student, or someone trained in journalism otherwise not affiliated with the university.
Their job would be to tell you what we as an institution messed up. Maybe the front page was becoming a little too Barack Obama friendly. Maybe one of the regular comics has become just a little too dismissive of the fairer sex. Maybe the Commentary writers were being a little unreasonable toward USG. The ombudsman would tell you about these things and more, and in-turn the paper could adjust if the criticisms were indeed warranted.
Two of my colleagues have resigned and if today were not my last day as commentary editor of The Daily Campus, I would be the third in line in this abruptly formulated exit parade.
Indignation is a roughly appropriate term to describe my emotions at the moment. I feel betrayed as a member of this organization. But, more than that, I feel guilty that you as students will really never get a chance to hear the news.
That is the way newspapers work - sorry. If there were an in-house struggle over at USG, The Daily Campus would cover it. If two members of SUBOG had had enough of sloppy leadership and quit, well, The Daily Campus would cover that too. But, that is not what happened. This time, the trouble resides in a small brick building next to Buckley, one of my homes for the last two years.
If you think for a second that the paper as an organization can ever truly be held accountable to the standards it likes to impose upon others around campus, cease in doing so immediately. The paper cannot even be held accountable to itself.
The only way the paper is held accountable is when students or administrators sit down to write a letter to the editor about what errors we - as eager and budding, yet wholly inexperienced journalists make. But we receive fewer letters to the editor than mistakes made, so there goes accountability, out the window yet again.
Maybe the paper would be right to employ an ombudsman, an independent, neutral observer, employed for a non-repeatable one-year term to read the paper and write a column every two weeks on what went wrong in its reporting or coverage. This mini-Clark Hoyt could be a student, or someone trained in journalism otherwise not affiliated with the university.
Their job would be to tell you what we as an institution messed up. Maybe the front page was becoming a little too Barack Obama friendly. Maybe one of the regular comics has become just a little too dismissive of the fairer sex. Maybe the Commentary writers were being a little unreasonable toward USG. The ombudsman would tell you about these things and more, and in-turn the paper could adjust if the criticisms were indeed warranted.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Sam
posted 5/02/08 @ 5:47 PM EST
Trying to understand this here. You are saying the 1 and 2 in command at the Daily Campus resigned? Arn't they seniors?
I thought the daily campus did a great job this year. (Continued…)
Too Drunk 2 Notice
posted 5/05/08 @ 11:36 AM EST
Does this about Melissa putting her story on the front page?
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