Newspaper’s job is to cover campus events, not promote them

We have received several emails about pieces written in the previous issue and we would like to elaborate about our purpose to readers.

To begin, our role as a newspaper is to report about happenings on campus as a public service to our readers: the students and faculty of MHCC. Our job description is not to be a PR department for our school or for specific clubs and activities on campus. When we report about events on campus it is not for publicity’s sake; it is to give our readers news about what is happening on campus that may be of interest to them. Therefore, “good” or favorable press is not a guarantee. Fair coverage, instead, is what we, as a newspaper, strive for.

This fair coverage extends over the entire campus. If an athletic team shines, they receive the appropriate press, as do student government events as well as events and information authorized by the administration.

The same is true of theater productions. We review many of the theater productions the week of opening night to ensure that a review can be published in a timely manner. To do this, we review dress rehearsals to give readers an objective idea of the production with enough time to make a decision about spending their time and money going to the show. We’ve done this for a few decades now, and until recently, when we wrote a more critical review of a play, we had never heard any objections to running these reviews.

And with each review, from CD reviews, reviews of campus events and theatre productions, The Advocate sends out seasoned writers. They understand that reviews should not be written in wondrous praise but they should also not be written in disdain. Our reporters understand the need to write fair and honest reviews pointing out what is good, bad and other concerns they have. Essentially, our reviewers are a section of the wider college audience, and it is their duty to represent their fellow students with reviews which are honest and fair.

Once stories are written, they are clearly labeled when we publish our newspaper. Reviews are labeled just as that and are part of the Living Arts section of the newspaper. News stories are labeled as such, so are sports stories. Columns and editorials are run in the opinion section. We do this to combat misunderstandings that may arise. For example, a reader might read an opinion piece and confuse it with an unbiased and interview-driven news story.

A final point in need of clarification is the distribution of our papers. The Advocate is free for students and staff and members of the community at large. We encourage our readers to take multiple copies to show their friends, especially when one sees oneself in print. We even encourage mailing a copy or two to Grandma Ethel. However, we ask that those who frequent our distribution points take newspapers within reason. On Monday, we noticed that almost of all our newspapers were missing from the major distribution points. While we would like to think that we have that much of a draw on campus, we know better. So, while we encourage readership, we do not encourage theft, which is what one commits when emptying our newspaper stands.

That being said, we do encourage our readers to let us know what they think of what we publish. In every issue of The Advocate, the bottom of this page explains the guidelines for writing a letter to the editor or a guest column—both of which are intended to be published— and contact information for an e-mail or phone call.