COLUMN: Try it before you knock it
Almost daily I hear complaints about The Utah Statesman and the job we do.
Many students complain about what stories we run. Many say they are involved in a club or group we have failed to cover.
Until someone has actually worked in a newsroom, they have no idea how hard it is to find out about everything that happens on campus.
The next obvious problem comes with the lack of understanding in the process of writing a story. In order to have a story written, someone from the organization must talk to the press. All too often, our writers are faced with a refusal to speak to the press. I am sorry, but if you don’t speak to the press, how can you expect a story to be written?
Sometimes, the brush-off comes because we are “nothing more than a student paper.” Again, we are a full-fledged newspaper that prints three times a week and requires committed writers and staff in order to publish a quality paper.
We work hard to provide even, fair coverage to the campus community. True we are not without our foes, but what newspaper isn’t in the same boat?
We may miss a grammatical error or a misspelled word at times, but we strive to catch them all. We work hard to prevent these problems from getting to press, but they do happen. We are not proud of this fact.
What we are proud of is the diversity of coverage our staff has offered this year. We are proud of the accurate reporting (and by far, we are accurate) and we are proud of the overall paper quality that has been produced during this academic year.
Being an actor as well as a journalist, I have felt this from both sides of my activity. As an actor, I have heard many audience members say they could have done better or they were disappointed with the “poor” acting. As a journalist, I have heard the same about the quality of our paper.
I guess my response is always the same – until you have done it, how can you say anything about it? Everyone is a critic, but no one is willing to back up the talk with action.
Working in a newsroom is a very stressful job. Deadlines and late-breaking stories keep reporters on their toes. The public demands these stories be reported, but they also fail to realize the pressure that comes with these stories.
Our reporters are full-time students, some with others jobs. Many are heavily involved with other departments on campus. Some are new and are learning the craft in a working environment. All of these factors must be taken into consideration when a would-be critic decides they know “more” about journalism and pass judgment on the value of the product.
I invite those who are completely disappointed about the paper to join the staff and work a semester in the newsroom. If not, compare our product to others from schools around the state and even some daily papers from the “professional” community – you will find we publish a high-quality paper. We were even named as the second best non-daily newspaper in our region by the Society of Professional Journalists.
After all, we have years of experience behind us. As the “campus voice since 1902” we will continue to educate and train future journalists in a quality news environment.