A Greek who is tired of bad publicity

Angels&Arrows · #1 09-19-2002, 11:00 PM

http://www.printz.usm.edu/opinion/9-17-2002letters.html

Letters to the Editor

Articles written in The Printz do not reflect campus events, student life

This letter is in response to the Thursday, Sept. 12, issue.
There are over 15,000 people that go to this school and thanks to the article "Student ID: Common method for payment" we all know how to use our USM Student ID card.
I also think that the more than 15,000 are tired of reading articles about student parking. My point is that there is so much else going on around campus.
My emphasis is in the Greek Community. Last week was fraternity rush. Monday is the Greek Convocation. We also have an all-Greek golf tournament coming up. Every fraternity or sorority has at least one philanthropy a year.
It just seems like the only time Greek events get covered is for being in trouble, but the positive things that the Greek community do very much outweigh the negatives. Just something to ponder before you write another full page article like "Pets need love, care."

Ed Akers,
USM Student

33girl · #2 09-20-2002, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Angels&Arrows
[Just something to ponder before you write another full page article like "Pets need love, care."

You know, looking at student newspapers in person and online this is something that I've seen - articles that are really kind of brainless and have nothing to do with the school. I realize a paper should have "feature" articles, but can't those be about, for example, the history of this or that dorm, and not something you could get in a regular local newspaper?

FuzzieAlum · #3 09-20-2002, 12:42 PM

As a former college paper editor, that was a big pet peeve of mine. We ran occasional movie or CD reviews, and of course our editorial columnists could write about non-campus issues if they wished, but I made a big point of not writing about the local sports teams (we were in a big city - geez, read the Plain Dealer for that, they'll do better coverage) and our news stories were about campus. No pet care stories for us! Of course, being Greek I tried to make sure we covered rush, etc.

Not every newspaper editor has those priorities, however, and because it's a student publication, priorities will frequently shift from year to year. The gal before me had a strong advocacy/social change outlook, for example. The best way to get Greeks covered is to have Greeks on the paper staff. That may sound obvious, but ... even though we didn't use beat reporters, we finally did use one for Greek life, and they had to be Greek, because otherwise every time some new reporter wrote a story about Greek life, he had to learn the Greek alphabet, rush, and everything else all over again, giving our news and copy editors nightmares.

I can tell you that, as good as it may feel, writing a letter to the editor saying "cover us" is probably the least effective thing you can do. Almost as ineffective is the chapter writing its own story and sending it in - chances are it won't be usable (to say nothing of violating the principles of objectivity). Best is getting someone on staff who can push for coverage. Second best is going the proper PR route and sending out press releases, calling for follow-up, and inviting reporters and photographers to events like Greek Week or dance a thons.

sororitygirl2 · #4 09-20-2002, 01:25 PM

I was also an editor at a school paper and have a different perspective than that of FuzzieAlum. As a journalist, you are obligated to give readers what they want and what they need. So, in theory, while it seems that a campus paper should focus only on campus news, in actuality, it should focus on the news that students NEED. There are many things outside of campus lie that affect and interest students and some students do not read any other papers other than the campus one.

As for the Greek Life reporter, at my school, it could NOT be someone who was Greek because that could definitely decrease objectivity.

I agree with FuzzieAlum about getting Greeks on the paper... on my campus, many houses tried to get one or two of their members to apply to be on staff. Also, don't write simple letters, they will probably go straight in the trash... send professional looking PR kits done by a marketing or PR major in your chapter! And make sure there are no typos in them!

FuzzieAlum · #5 09-20-2002, 01:49 PM

Right there is an example of how different editors have different perspectives on what's "right" to cover, and while the two of us disagree about what should be covered, I don't necessarily think SG2 is wrong in any objective sense. I guess the question is what you view your mission as a paper as.

We had limited resources, being a weekly paper not backed by any journalism program. So we could only cover so much, and there was definitely enough going on around campus to keep us busy. My rationale is, where else can students possibly read about campus happenings? Nowhere, of course. That was our first priority and obligation. But for anything else - fashion, lifestyle, world sports - there were lots of other sources for that, from the city newspaper to magazines. If students don't want to read about some topic elsewhere (and you can read pretty much anything free on the web so $ is not an issue), they're going to skip right over it when we cover it, too.

sororitygirl2 · #6 09-20-2002, 01:53 PM

So right, Fuzzy! While you try to stick to journalistic guidelines, it always comes down to using your knowledge and training to make a judgement call!

*Edited to add: My campus paper was a medium-sized daily backed by the journalism program, Fuzzy. I didn't really take those possible differences into consideration in my post... sorry!