OUR VIEW: Public forum can be a reality at USU

As a news source with potential to be a place where the community gathers, readers demand accurate reporting – as well they should. What good is a news source if it can’t be trusted?

This week, one of our editors found a Web blog that came across sounding and looking remarkably like a newspaper article. However, it claimed Camp Williams guests were being held like hostages at gunpoint. Clearly, a claim that was unfounded coming from a source far less than credible.

But a newspaper acting as a real public forum does more than just publish correct and accurate facts. It does so with minimum bias and a fair approach and welcomes communication between the publication and its readers.

The Statesman does its best to project this attitude not just through its articles, but through its opinion pages as well. With each issue that arises, we hope to air the concerns of as many students as possible, publishing multiple viewpoints. Fairness in news reporting requires we publish more than one side. We can’t accomplish this alone, however. How do we get the word out if no one is talking?

College campuses are considered almost sacred havens when it comes to free speech. Very few, if any, restrictions are placed on their publications. As such, college newspapers have the potential to be a sounding board for students, faculty and administration alike, regardless of their ideas. The letters to the editor section is ultimately meant to facilitate discussion among members of campus. E-mail address of writers are listed at the bottom of each article so you can let us know what we got wrong and what we got right. Information on where to send story ideas or suggestions is available on the top of each section starter.

So step up and be part of the free press process.