Spring Break
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: The balancing act
by Rachel Marder
Senior Editor
Columnists | 10/16/07
Posted online at 9:13 PM EST on 10/15/07
/ Last updated at 5:37 AM EST on 10/15/07
Think back to a time when you did something you now regret. You're overcome with feelings of shame; a fairly typical experience for college students. Maybe you left the house in only your bra and underwear to attend a campuswide party. Little did you know your campus newspaper had sent a writer and photographer to report on this party and why the administration objects to it. The next thing you know, you're on the front page of the paper--underwear and all-laughing and partying with your friends.
Another scenario: You get arrested one night for smoking marijuana. The local police compile a report associating your name with the incident publicly. An article about the episode appears in your college paper-online edition included-and suddenly you have to worry about your name forever being linked, thanks to Google, to the time in college you smoked marijuana and got caught.
It would be easy to blame journalists for ruining lives. College is the universally accepted time for experimentation; how dare journalists treat the very students they claim to serve with such insensitivity by posting their moment of regret online?
The nightmare scenarios I've described happen regularly on our campus. As editor in chief, I receive requests from students, parents and University administrators either to not print or to remove names and photos from our Web site that they feel might inhibit a student's ability to get into law school, obtain a job or receive the respect of his/her peers and professors. Frequently, I feel like the bad guy. I'm responsible for making an event they want to leave in the dust public. I have to tell students that I'm very sorry, but what they did is public information, and as a newsworthy event, we have the right to print and post it. Unsurprisingly, I receive angry letters and phone calls, threats to sue the paper and me and requests by administrators to meet them for a stern talking to.
Of course, the Justice isn't infallible. We may make decisions you strongly disagree with. Readers are the strongest check on a newspaper; we rely on you to confront us and write letters to the editor arguing your point.
Another scenario: You get arrested one night for smoking marijuana. The local police compile a report associating your name with the incident publicly. An article about the episode appears in your college paper-online edition included-and suddenly you have to worry about your name forever being linked, thanks to Google, to the time in college you smoked marijuana and got caught.
It would be easy to blame journalists for ruining lives. College is the universally accepted time for experimentation; how dare journalists treat the very students they claim to serve with such insensitivity by posting their moment of regret online?
The nightmare scenarios I've described happen regularly on our campus. As editor in chief, I receive requests from students, parents and University administrators either to not print or to remove names and photos from our Web site that they feel might inhibit a student's ability to get into law school, obtain a job or receive the respect of his/her peers and professors. Frequently, I feel like the bad guy. I'm responsible for making an event they want to leave in the dust public. I have to tell students that I'm very sorry, but what they did is public information, and as a newsworthy event, we have the right to print and post it. Unsurprisingly, I receive angry letters and phone calls, threats to sue the paper and me and requests by administrators to meet them for a stern talking to.
Of course, the Justice isn't infallible. We may make decisions you strongly disagree with. Readers are the strongest check on a newspaper; we rely on you to confront us and write letters to the editor arguing your point.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Meredith Ives
posted 10/17/07 @ 6:02 PM EST
I am surprised to see my arrest pointedly referenced this letter. While I had personal conversations with several Justice staff members about my specific concerns relating to the publication of my arrest in last week's article (Arrested Students Accuse Police of Aggression, 10/9), I never publicly voiced my frustration or my disappointment in the resulting article. (Continued…)
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