Newspapers are a very effective way of delivering the news. The Minaret, our school paper, is very popular among UT students. It covers everything we want it to and even things we don’t. After attending UT for over three years I am now a senior and have seen both good and bad from our school paper.
I’ve read and heard stories from friends about The Minaret covering stories that are supposed to be confidential. Our University has a confidentiality clause for a reason, and it’s a clause I have seen The Minaret break several times over. “I feel like their main goal is to get papers out. I feel like they shouldn’t put people on blast…there are more important things to be covered that can help us.” Said Junior Criminology major Stephanie Dubuisson.
The Minaret run by students. Students write the stories, student editors approve those stories and send them to the presses. We all know that The Minaret has the reputation of being among the best college newspapers in the state, but it is still a SCHOOL NEWS PAPER nonetheless.
We are many individuals but one student body. As I stated before the writers of The Minaret are part of that student body, so why are they trying to hurt us? “I just hate when The Minaret puts things on blast for the entire student body especially the police beat. It’s a little too intense for a school paper especially when it covers things that don’t effect others,” explains Senior Biology major Kimi Lynn. If you were going through something personal that out wanted to keep private how would you feel if The Minaret got a hold of that information.
I am a firm believer in that the public has a right to know what’s going on within their community however when it is in regards to information that is private and doesn’t effect others, why does it have to be put on blast for the entire student body? As a student body we should be protecting ourselves, our privacy, as well as our fellow students and their privacy. “I don’t think it should focus so much on the individuals details but the overall problem. People’s personal information does not need to be in the paper. We don’t need to know who it is. We just need to know when to be careful,” stated Sophmore Intercultural and Cultural Studies major Mianna Charles. If our school paper continues to make private knowledge public I am almost certain students will refuse to come forth with important information due to fears of them being written about in The Minaret. My question now is, When and where is The Minaret going to draw the line of what’s appropriate for them to cover and what isn’t?
By Hector Flores Jr.
What does it mean to be “put on blast”? My English is not the best and this term is new to me.
do you not understand i’m on the side of the minaret? obviously i know this isn’t written by someone on the minaret.
To What…:
Just because a letter is printed in the Minaret doesn’t mean it’s an article. They are like “Dear Abby:” or w/e. You really seem to be defending the idiocy of Hector. If the Minaret altered/edited this letter, then that would be unethical. Generally journalism is about publishing what is correct, not what sounds good.
-BoB
if a letter is printed into a newspaper does it not then become an article? Either way, whether it’s a letter or an article wasn’t the point. The point was no matter what you’re writing slang terms are never helping you out.
It’s okay Minaret. I’m sure “what…” doesn’t know that a Letter to the Editor is not an article, but a letter from a READER.
-BoB
just so you know for future reference, using slang terms to make a point kind of hurts your credibility when writing an article. And the fact that two other students were apparently quoted saying “put on blast” is f***ing sad.
ps, sorry if this comment put your article on blast.
This letter set a record for the most times using the phrase “put on blast.”
In addition to that, the letter highlights everything that is misunderstood about the world of journalism.
Love, C.