Why we published ‘MU College Republicans chairman steps back’
The Jan. 26 MU College Republicans meeting became newsworthy the moment Chairman Brett Dinkins and Treasurer Matthew Sheppard announced they are stepping back from their executive positions.
When the leader of an organization — especially one as large as the MU College Republicans — steps down, it is newsworthy. If Howard Dean or Michael Steele resigned from their positions as chairmen of the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively, their actions would make headlines.
The Maneater’s Jan. 29 article, ‘MU College Republicans chairman steps back,’ was not about interpersonal drama between Dinkins and Sheppard, but about two executive members of a prominent organization stepping back and the implications that might have.
But it would not be sufficient to simply report Dinkins and Sheppard stepped back; as a newspaper, it was our duty to ask why, which is where our reporting began. The reason why, Dinkins and former Chairman Jonathan Ratliff said, is because Dinkins could not be unbiased in resolving MU College Republicans-related problems with Sheppard following his arrest.
Thus our coverage began to walk a fine line between covering the MU College Republicans and covering personal problems between Dinkins and Sheppard. In reporting this story, we worked to answer every question while sharing no more than was necessary about their interpersonal conflict.
In regard to The Maneater’s print edition: Front-page news is relative to the events of the day. What makes front-page news one day might not make it another day, because an article’s prominence in the newspaper is relative to the newsworthiness of other stories in that issue. That said, this story made the front page because it was among the most newsworthy stories of that particular issue, relatively speaking.
If you have any questions or concerns about this story, I encourage you to e-mail me or write a letter to the editor. We at The Maneater appreciate comments and conversation, and we value what you have to say. The Maneater is, after all, the student voice of MU.
Comments (5)
8:06 p.m., Jan. 31, 2010
John Doe said:
These people are still students. They didn't deserve this kind of coverage, stress, and look into their personal lives. It was POORLY written and and executed. You may be a "newspaper" but you still have a responsibility to respect a fellow Mizzou Tiger's right as a student. This was wrong. Pure and simple.
10 p.m., Jan. 31, 2010
Anonymous said:
Hey Josh, This situation was negative all-around, and you are quite right in asserting that it was newsworthy. The situation itself was quite sensational and the comments offered a bit ill-advised, but the story itself was certainly kept rather professional. I was somewhat disappointed that there was room for things like this but not room for news about the H1N1 vaccine clinics offered this week by the SHC, for example, which could save productivity and lives (and I'm sure there were other worthy topics as well). At any rate, kudos to you for your self-evaluative response, and I hope that this ultimately serves as a tool for growth.
12:04 a.m., Feb. 1, 2010
Greg Young said:
This doesn't even come close to addressing the controversy around this article. First off, you said "In reporting this story, we worked to answer every question while sharing no more than was necessary about their interpersonal conflict." I'm stunned by this comment, if you were interested in sharing no more than what was necessary, you could have just mentioned that they had a personal incident between each other. Going into the amount of detail (243 words worth, which was almost 1/2 of your total story length) smacked of trying to produce an interesting story, rather than caring about any original reporting. Additionally, you mention that you wanted to report on the "implications" that the incident might have. Well, I read the entire article and it seemed like the only reporting you did about the implications of the resignation was at the end of the article. Frankly, I think that is a cop out excuse, you wanted to report on the details of this (admittedly) juicy incident, and the implications of it seem well buried in the article. I think that if this incident was one of the only one that this newspaper had of blasting student leaders and not reporting fairly, you might have some more sympathy. But the unfortunate fact is that this is a trend, not an isolated incident. In the past year, you've gone after Jordan Paul (http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2010/1/26/former-msa-president-jordan-paul-earns-c/) , the MU Democrats and Republicans (http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2009/9/11/truth-tuesdays-false-front/) , MSA President-elect Tim Noce (http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2009/12/11/enthusiasm-cannot-make-lacking-knowledge/), KCOU and MUTV (http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2009/11/6/kmou-mutv-internships-not-snuff/), and several other student leaders and organizations. As a newspaper, it is quite easy to simply criticize our student leaders, finding faults with all of their proposals and make fun of their intelligence (such as when The Maneater said Tim Noce might "lack knowledge" to do his job), but if you are going to do that, you need to add something constructive to the debate. If you are not going to, and you are going to continue to extensively report on the gossip around their positions (which is going to exist all the time, HELLO, we are in college!) then you are part of the problem, not the solution.
1:37 p.m., Jan. 31, 2010
Student said:
This story was bogus. You may have started off reporting about them stepping down but you ended up reporting about their lives. This story could have been written better and it should have been before being published. It also shouldn't be on the front page. There are better and more newsworthy things happening all over the place. Better luck next time!