The Collegian: its own worst enemy

[sigma7]

What is it about lazy editorials that brings out the worst in everyone?

Students and faculty members wearing "I am TB free!" T-shirts lined the front portico at the K-State Alumni Center on Friday afternoon prior to the State of the University address.

About 50 protesters showed their outrage against a Collegian column that ran Tuesday.

Students, faculty and staff members had a meeting Friday morning concerning the column, "Illegal immigrants bring diseases into States," and its line art from Sept. 11. Several protesters approached President Jon Wefald and Provost Duane Nellis prior to their address to inform them of the opinion column. Wefald told them he had no prior knowledge of the column and thanked them for the information.

...Paz said she would like the Collegian staff to censor its content a bit and also provide minority communities more space in the paper.

Okay, that statement is either a horrible paraphrase or an idiotic viewpoint. Editing is not censoring. Having standards is not censoring. Internally vetting content is not censoring. If Paz actually said the word "censor" or any derivation thereof, I'd be surprised. If Paz did say it, she's an idiot; if that's something that someone edited into the story, that someone should get fired for intentionally loading a source's language.

Since there's no link in the story, here's the original column. Also note that there's no caption for the picture, and the front-page at the bottom left hasn't worked for months now, and they've apparently already done the paper for next Wednesday already. That worries me more than an underclass poli-sci major's ranting.

Comments

Kollege is Kewl

[jerrygarciuh.livejournal.com]

Morning Edition, September 17, 2007 · A Pennsylvania student attacks media portrayals of rowdy college behavior. Christopher Bevan, the student government president at Bloomsburg University, wrote to the local paper questioning the way the school's annual block party was covered. Then police pulled him over. He was allegedly driving 50 mph in a 15 mph zone. Police say his blood-alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14465192

Re: Kollege is Kewl

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

In terms of sheer hypocrisy, that is topped only by this winner from Nebraska, who gets extra points for fatality.

Re: Kollege is Kewl

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Wait, I'm sorry. "Hypocrisy" is the wrong word to attribute to Mr. Airborne Nebraska. At least he held onto his convictions, so we gotta give him props for that.... Neither one is the brightest crayon in the box, though.

[rewil.livejournal.com]

Not enough *facepalm* in the world.

[patchsassy.livejournal.com]

A-that editorial should never have run. They were just ASKING for trouble posting an editorial that said all immigrants are going to bring diseases into the United States. This is not 1900, people!

It just strengthens my point about what is wrong with the Collegian this semester: the editors are having issues caring about anything but Number One. They don't care what goes into the paper because they're too busy worrying about their own lives. Plus, they aren't as diversified as some editorial staffs in the past. You don't see the editors taking responsibility for what they put through the chain or working to make the paper better on a daily basis. You see editors who approve half-assed stories because it's more convenient for them.

Secondly, the people don't care. That entire article was irresponsible journalism and that chick should NEVER have had that approved. I saw Kim's note that day in the rim copy and she was absolutely LIVID.

/rant

Anyway, whoever said that in today's Collegian is retarded if that is what she said. It's just bringing up the same old thing that we've been fighting for forever: how to provide adequate diverse coverage on a FARM COLLEGE IN KANSAS. I think we're fine on diversity. Considering that 85 percent of the college's enrollment is white, it's not like we're UTEP or NYU. We don't have a lot of diversity here. People bitching about it isn't going to make anything better and all it's going to do is bring up old skeletons, which the Collegian can't go through right now because we don't have people like Sarah Rice and Katie Lane who are willing to fight for it.

:headdesk: I can't wait until I graduate from this.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Concurred re: the editors. Except for your online...I'm sorry, "multimedia" editor. He owes whatever he's being paid back to Student Pub.

Secondly, the people don't care. That entire article was irresponsible journalism and that chick should NEVER have had that approved. I saw Kim's note that day in the rim copy and she was absolutely LIVID.

I was trying to look up who your "opinion editor" is -- or pretends to be -- and came across this nugget of stupidity:

By summer 2006, the Collegian officially signs on and launches its Web site with the popular newspaper journalism program, College Publisher. During that summer, the Collegian launched its first-ever online video content.

I want whoever wrote that paragraph to be PUNCHED IN THE FACE. Because they are about nine kinds of wrong. That's absolutely insulting, especially given the offensive levels of apathy shown in current online endeavors.

And yes, you get people like your columnist who've never been in a society that wasn't <95% white, who decide to expound upon their monocultural wisdom and seem shocked when everyone doesn't blindly accept it. She deserves all due scorn for what she wrote, but the opinion editor deserves equal time for deeming it acceptable to run.

Wow. I haven't been this pissed off at the Collegian in a long, long time.

[patchsassy.livejournal.com]

The Collegian's opinion editor is Brett King. There were a bunch of people who weren't exactly happy with this appointment because his level of conservatism.

Wow. I haven't been this pissed off at the Collegian in a long, long time.

Look on the bright side. At least you don't work there.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Well, regardless of politics, it's a job that does require a brain stem, or at least reading comprehension. Either he read the column and deemed it worthy of inclusion in the official student newspaper of Kansas State University or he didn't do his job. Either way? FAIL.

God, if I worked there I'd be killing myself trying to put right what once went wrong on my own desk. It's just shameful that so many of your cohorts seem to think that the Collegian is a resume-factory and not a legitimate working environment. It's not SGA, people.

If the quality of the content was honestly what got Ron fired, how well do you think the current SPub administration would fare?