Second-class treatment: paying for our mistakes
Issue date: 5/14/09 Section: Opinion
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The Pacific Index has served this university for almost 117 years and in that time has produced hundreds of issues and thousands of articles. Not all of them have been well received by university officials or students, not all of them were particularly nice, and yes, not all of them were accurate.
We will be the first to tell you that we get things wrong sometimes. While most students take their tests behind closed doors, the student newspaper is the only test we journalists receive. As reporters, our mistakes are printed for everyone to read. When we get something wrong, it is a matter of public record.
For years an animosity has existed between university and student newspaper. Some members of the university (including faculty, staff and students) don't talk to the newspaper because of the perception that we get everything wrong, or twist the meaning of their words.
To those of you who despise this newspaper, ask yourself, "why?" If the answer is that we make factual mistakes, then stop reading The Oregonian or The New York Times, because they make mistakes too. Every newspaper in the world has a corrections box and mistakes are written in every day. Like all other publications, The Pacific Index strives for accuracy and when mistakes are made we make an effort to correct them.
For those that are upset because there was once a story written about you that was less than favorable, ask yourself when was it written; if it was more than two years ago, the person who wrote the article is most likely no longer here. The Pacific Index receives a facelift every year with new staff, new editors, new reporters and a new approach to reporting, but always with a level of professionalism. We strive to be the best source for news around, just like any other newspaper.
Our search for first-hand accounts and details is often hindered by people who refuse to talk to us. When this publication decided to write an article about the upcoming presidential search, our attempts were thwarted by university officials who refused to let us do our job. Our reporter was not allowed to take video of the presidential candidates at the open forums held in the PULSE for fear that we would edit the videos out of context. We were almost withheld from taking any pictures at all.
In the words of one administrator, "you know how Youtube can be."
When we discussed the situation with John Schrag, editor and publisher of The Forest Grove News-Times, he was shocked when we described the situation to him. The university did not have the same fear with a "real newspaper" when The News-Times requested to take their own photos of the candidates for their publication.
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