Letters: BOT meeting
a disgrace
Editorial:
 We
won't back down
The University of Minnesota is currently having
a lot of problems with its men's basketball team — specifically academic
scandal and drug infractions. In reaction to this news the sports
editor of The Minnesota Daily who wrote a scathing column about how
the program should be "dissolved" for a year.
Upon the release of the column on Oct. 13, the athletic department
— specifically, Golden Gophers coach Dan Monson — was pretty upset.
He was upset enough to make threats to revoke the paper's season press
credentials if a retraction wasn't printed.
Unfortunately, sports editor Josh Linehan bowed to the threats, writing
a more supportive and less angry version of his column. Monson won,
and Linehan compromised the journalistic integrity of The Minnesota
Daily.
A column is the opinion of one person, not of an entire paper. An
editorial is the opinion of a group of people sitting in a room and
coming to conclusions about certain topics. An advertisement that
appears in the paper is not an indication of the opinion of the editorial
board of a newspaper. Advertising is a different department of the
company, one that has no say in news coverage. And an independent
newspaper is just that: independent.
When an independent student newspaper coexists with a university,
it suffers certain disadvantages. A big disadvantage and misunderstanding
between the surrounding community and such a paper is that the paper
speaks for all students.
Papers like The Minnesota Daily and The Daily Illini have never claimed
to speak for all students. We are not a representative of the students,
but we are an advocate and a watchdog for them, providing the information
students need to make informed decisions about the issues that affect
their lives.
It is our job as journalists to cover the news, regardless of whether
it is something pleasant about the University. We have no reservations
about printing negativity.
Writing about something negative that is happening on campus is not
uncommon for student papers, especially in the sports sections. This
truth is even more evident in the opinions section.
It's a shame that Monson resorted to such childish and immature threats
toward The Minnesota Daily. Linehan should not have written a toned-down
version of his original work. As a journalist who is also an editor,
he is obligated to stand behind his work if it irepresents the truth.
Backing down because of the huffing and puffing of an ignorant coach
— or other university official — is something that any responsible
paper will never do. |
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