America’s Founding Fathers understood more than anyone the importance of free speech. That’s why they put so much emphasis on instituting a free press to hold government accountable.
As a result, the press has a great deal of power and responsibility. The Society of Professional Journalists published a Code of Ethics, in which it states that journalists should “be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable” and “give voice to the voiceless.”
However, not all journalism serves to expose corruption and wrongdoing. The Collegian covers such a wide array of topics that it’s important students know what to expect when being interviewed for all different types of articles.
Each section of a newspaper serves a different purpose. The news section revolves around the facts. As a news reporter, my job is to get down to the basics of what happens, to represent both sides of a story and to be unbiased in my reporting.
News is not to be used as a public relations tool. It cannot promote opinions or publish claims from interviewees without evidence.
The features section, however, generally has looser rules. Features tend to focus on specific people and events, and tends to have less negative information about the thing featured. Features reporters have more freedom to be creative in their storytelling, and are allowed to use “I” sentences.
The opinion section is where students and faculty can promote their views, call others to action and raise awareness of certain issues. But opinion pieces still need to be fact-based with cited sources, and cannot include unfounded accusations.
Campus events and personality profiles are the Collegian’s hot spot. If you are being interviewed about one of these topics, you can expect questions that allow you to express your voice. Feel free to give colorful quotes that show your personality.
For many news stories, reporters seek quotes and information from people who are authorities on the matters they cover. While reporters cannot insert their opinion in an article, they include opinions from multiple authorities. When you’re being interviewed for a basic news story, you can expect most questions to be one of the five “W’s”: who, what, where, when and why.
For deeper, investigative stories, news outlets have to be particularly careful. To avoid libel, newspapers cannot publish speculatory, baseless accusations about people. Libel is defamation to maliciously damage a person’s reputation or misrepresent them. So, when you are being interviewed for an investigative article, please give as much information as you have and provide as much evidence as possible for your claims.
Since becoming a news editor for the Collegian a little over a year ago, I’ve written several investigative articles. I’ve covered the mold in Kresge, polluting power plants in Kentucky, faculty probation and, most recently, the Kresge “creeper” situation.
The Collegian chose these topics to bring awareness to issues. While I have empathy for those affected by negative situations, my reporting needs to show both sides of a situation. So if a reporter asks for your opinion for an investigative article, know that they will also be representing the other side in the article.
Truth is central to journalism and especially to every investigative story because truth convicts and spurs action. In response to the mold article published this spring, Asbury administration took steps to clean the mold in Kresge’s vents and focus on future renovations of the building.
But sometimes truth-seeking isn’t so easy. Investigators know that there are at least three sides to every story: one person’s side, another person’s side and the truth.
I started researching for the “creeper” article this fall because I wanted to tell a story that not many people on campus knew about. But only after learning more about the situation did the story’s purpose evolve.
By the time I started asking questions, the “peeping Tom” situation had already been resolved, but it took almost an entire school year for that to happen. Therefore, I wanted to show what everyone could do better in the future to deal with similar situations.
Throughout the interviewing process, there were several instances when I received conflicting information, leading me to believe that miscommunication or a lack of communication caused much of the delay in the situation being resolved.
Unfortunately, both sides of the story felt like they were not communicated with properly or fully. This is a practical example of why it is so important to get both sides of a story and to share them accurately.
The reason anyone writes investigative articles is to inspire change. While the Collegian does function under the branch of Student Development, Asbury University does not tell the Collegian what to publish and the Collegian does not seek permission before publishing accurate investigative stories. All stories are thoroughly scrutinized for ethical and factual exactness, and no story is pursued without the guidance of the faculty advisor.
If you ever have a grievance with or feel misrepresented by an article in the Collegian, contact the executive editor at katherine.sheets@asbury.edu.