Five minutes prior to sitting down to type this blog, I overheard a fragment of a conversation between two of my fellow female Cal Poly students.
Girl 1: “I still have to do my project.”
Girl 2: “That’s why I’m not doing journalism, I hate news!”
Although I am not aware of the context of the conversation the statement “I hate news” startled me. After my anger subsided, it turned into confusion and slight sadness. How could someone hate the news? News is such an important and vital aspect of democracy and of this country. Without news, how would we know what is happening around us, in our state and throughout the world. News is power and knowledge that helps us as citizens contribute to society. The entire basis of my time at Cal Poly and my future career is based on news, and someone hates it. I doubt many people say they hate dairy science. As I’ve been told, milk does the body good. There are no catchy slogans about news. Granted, not everyone is going to agree on what IS news and what ISN’T. But to hate is such a strong emotion.
Daily, I read the comments on the news stories I decide to run in the Mustang Daily, and there is a common theme I am noticing. Everyone’s definition of news is different. News is what is happening. News is informative, fun, mundane, controversial, enlightening, depressing … I could go on and on. What I am getting at is that whether or not the reader likes what a news article is about, it is still news.
I’ll give an example.
The Alpha Phi investigation has received a large amount of comments on mustangdaily.net and that excites me. That means we have readers and best of all, readers who care enough and are passionate about what we work hard to report that they take the time to say how they are feeling. Many of the comments bashed the Mustang Daily for reporting the story in the first place. Every opinion is accepted and appreciated, but how the hell could we not report on such a hot button issue? A sorority under investigation is news, no matter what way you slice it. Now whether you like the fact that the issue is being reported, that’s up to you. Our job as journalists, as I will probably say 5,000 times throughout the year, is to inform. Knowledge is certainly power. What you do with it is completely up to you.
What our readers must take into consideration is that we have an obligation to them and the community we cover to give the facts no matter what light they are cast in. If there is an investigation of any sort, we will report it. If there is a ribbon cutting for a new building on campus, we will report it. If citizens are protesting in the streets of San Luis Obispo, we will report it. We will report the good and the bad because that is what news is … everything.
There may be things we miss and that is where you come in, our readers. Tell us what you think needs coverage. You are our eyes and ears around campus and throughout the community. Give us the good, give us the ugly. That’s news. And as always … keep those comments coming. It’s how we learn how to do our job best.