Let’s report the news

By: Melissa Boyd (Whetstone Writing Staff)

After the special edition of The Whetstone came out last month, several students and staff members praised me, as well as my adviser and other staff members on the paper, for publishing the stories on the student life employees resigning.

Others questioned me.

“How did you do it?” “Weren’t you scared of backlashes?” “I like that you did the stories, but man, you’re risky.”

The answers to their questions are always quite simple.

I did it by reporting the news, based on students who provided me with their experiences and by using the official statements school officials chose to give me.

Of course, I was scared of backlashes, but the news is news. Students have a right to know. It’s my job and it’s what I live for at Wesley.

Was I risky? Not really – I believe in fair, accurate and balanced articles and I provided all sides of every story with the opportunity to comment.

The Whetstone also posted via its Facebook and Twitter accounts, allowing students and employees to comment or request interviews with me to include their sides of the story. That opened the door to more than 60 students and school employees, in addition to those I asked face-to-face.

Rumors are similar to mosquitoes – they fly around your head, buzzing, buzzing, buzzing, and then bite you when you least expect it.

Some rumors were not worth reporting because I report the news and student experiences, not rumors. Sensitive topics, such as employee resignations, student suicides or deaths, criminal activity on campus – they need to be reported, especially because those are the stories that keep the students on campus buzzing with talk.

Something our readers need to understand is that we report the news we find, based on those who experience it and who are willing to go on-the-record.

We’re independent from the administration, from the faculty, from the staff, and from the student government – we serve the students. If there’s a topic that has students talking, we’re going to cover it. It’s our job.

If we don’t cover a topic that a student would like us to, my email is listed in every edition of The Whetstone, so feel free to email me what you think The Whetstone should be covering.

Reporting the news is a bit like being the cop in a high-speed chase. You keep hitting the gas pedal and swerving, trying not to hit all of the cars in the way, but finally, the car your chasing will hit something and you’ll get ‘em.

As Dr. Susan Cooper might say in one of my education classes, you have to address the elephant in the room.