Since 1923 • For a greater Loyola

The Maroon

Since 1923 • For a greater Loyola

The Maroon

Since 1923 • For a greater Loyola

The Maroon

    News a tricky business, but not rocket science

    The Crystal Ball
    The Crystal Ball

    A few students on campus, including a member of the Student Government Association, recently expressed an interest in starting a second campus newspaper, “The Gold,” to compete with The Maroon because of dissatisfaction with the latter’s coverage of campus news.

    The costs, however, associated with publishing a newspaper likely will prevent any such second publication from ever popping up — unless, of course, students want to pay more fees, which I seriously doubt.

    The complaints against The Maroon are not new and include the staff’s taking quotes out of context, misquoting sources and perpetuating stereotypes.

    Print media, big and small, face these same criticisms daily from elected officials, organization leaders and subscribers.

    Journalists would agree that the foremost role of the media should be to disseminate truthful and accurate information. When the facts are skewed, flawed or taken out of context, any responsible news organization would be willing to admit its mistakes and correct them.

    The media have a responsibility to be as fair and accurate in its reporting as possible. Readers demand it.

    When the print media fails to live up to the obligation, it loses readers.

    The truth, however, is not always black and white, and there are always many sides to a story.

    While attempting fairness by interviewing opinions from both sides of the barricades, journalists are at the same time blasted for putting into print unpopular ideas.

    Letters pour into newsrooms around the country every year claiming the media is biased.

    The people who buy into this idea of a media bias are the same people who buy a gold Rolex for $1 and believe Elvis is living on Mars somewhere just waiting to return to Earth for his final kung-fu kick.

    The great media bias is a myth. The same people who believe the myth believe in impossible conspiracy theories.

    The goal of every good journalist is objectivity. Whether that is reachable remains another topic for debate.

    But a good journalist tries to put aside any biases or personal opinions to report on the facts as they present themselves.

    The news is neither the journalist nor the journalist’s opinions, but opinions do play a part in the news.

    The opinions of the key players in a story are important. When, for instance, Loyola students who are feeding homeless people in a downtown park are confronted by angry residents who don’t want nefarious characters idling in their neighborhood, the opinions of both the students and residents are news.

    When the university president expresses an opinion at the university’s faculty convocation that he believes the College of Arts and Sciences is “lagging,” that’s news.

    The news is made up of opinions. These opinions are part of the facts. The fact is the person believes what he or she is saying.

    One of the reasons that quoting named sources rather than unnamed sources is so important is to give a face and a name to the opinions expressed rather than the ideas taking on the face and the name of the newspaper.

    Reporting the news is a tricky business. Not all media outlets do it well.

    Conservatives claim the media is too liberal. Liberals claim the media is too conservative. I guess you can’t please everyone all of the time.

    In a picture that ran with my Jan. 31 column titled “Frivolous spending — It’s the Loyola way,” the caption inaccurately identified The Hurricane Party sponsored by the University Programming Board as an event financed through student fees allocated through the Student Government Association.

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