Dear F&M Community,
An unfinished article has been stapled to The Protest Tree, accusing The College Reporter of censorship and stating that we “would not publish” the piece.
This article has been in the works since early February and was encouraged by multiple TCR exec board members. Set to be published in the February 20th edition, it was an executive decision that the article be held off as the writer had not met with, and allowed for comment from, all parties involved, specifically administrative personnel.
Investigative Reporting is not a speedy process and should not be expedited for the sake of time. The uncovering of accurate information in an ethical manner is a tedious process that requires patience and consistency. A reporter’s job is to present all information and give the reader a choice to decide what they want to do with it. This article was not published on our website as all of the information was not there.
Journalism is founded upon a commitment to the truth. The Society of Professional Journalists’ ethical guidelines state that journalists are responsible for “diligently seeking subjects of news coverage to allow them to respond to criticism or allegations of wrongdoing” to “identify sources clearly as the public is entitled to as much information as possible to judge the reliability and motivation of sources,” as well as “gathering, updating, and correcting information throughout the life of a news story.”
The staff writer in question was not “fired” and was not told that they “could never write for TCR again.” In fact, they were encouraged to talk to the current executive board about their frustrations, to which no agreement has been made.
The circumstances with the student worker’s article are evidently not an issue of censorship but of ethical journalistic standards. If you have any questions or concerns about The Reporter’s editorial policies or the nature of this article, please contact Anna Chiaradonna, Editor in Chief at achiarad@fandm.edu or Ella Peeples, Managing Editor, at epeeples@fandm.edu.
Sincerely,
The College Reporter’s Executive Board