14 June 2006

Again with the campus newspapers

Today in the campus newspaper, there was an obituary that concluded with the following sentence (I am not making this up): "The extent of his death is still unknown,[sic]"

Yes, that's right, it not only mangled my language; it also finished the sentence with a comma. I was going to link to it, but I couldn't find it, so I thought I'd blog this instead:
I am writing in response to the article, "Choice of a Lifetime," written by Erin Wisdom in The University Daily Kansan on Thursday, April 13. This article was not a news item; it was strongly biased toward pro-life political ends. To publish such an article as news and not as an editorial piece does not demonstrate the journalistic integrity that is expected from our university newspaper.
Surprise! Your university newspaper is written by people with opinions! And it's really, really funny to say we hold our university newspaper to "high standards" when I don't know of anyone who even pretends we do.

In all fairness, if you look at the article, it is biased. It is written in a way that makes abortion look like a terrible alternative. It does, however, at least make some efforts to sound unbiased. It interviews several pro-abortion folks.

Also, the article is in the weekly tabloid put out by the paper. It's really supposed to be more opinion based, in some ways, than the broadsheet itself.

Nonetheless,I tend to agree with the woman who wrote this letter to the editor... college journalists should be held to higher standards. But then again, that's why they're in college: to learn how to be biased without sounding like they are. That way, they'll fit right into the mainstream media.

Sorry this was so rambling; I didn't feel like organizing. You're lucky to get anything, you ungrateful person!


LQ said...

"the extent of his death"... oh... my brain hurts now; thanks a lot! ;)

Izzy said...

Heh. That is teh terrible, SIRS.