Printing the Hard Stuff

It's always interesting to go to class and hear what people have to say about The Daily Mississippian when they don't know you work for it. As news editor, I take these opportunities to learn about what our readers like and don't like, and find ways to improve the publication.

But something particularly struck my interest in my English class today. Our professor had a student read aloud his paper on the topic of modern-day heroes. He took the stance that our society has less heroes and the media is partially to blame. As a local example, he used The DM and how the publication dealt with the Bradley Jameson incident as well as the three students killed in the ATO fire three years ago. The student felt The DM should have ignored the toxicology reports of the students. His reasoning was because it made the situation harder for the students' family and friends and that the information was uncalled for, tarnishing the images of the former students.

It was all I could do to keep my mouth closed.

The DM, like many other newspapers, holds its highest obligation to its readers. To do so, we must print any and all information we obtain about a story we are covering. Whether the information be good or bad, it is our duty to let our readers know what really happened.

Sometimes, this can be hard for our staff. In the Jameson case, we were first told no alcohol was involved - it was an open and shut case. We wrote a brief article on the accident, followed by a profile article about Jameson and how he was remembered by family and friends. Then came the toxicology report. Although some of us were saddened by it, we knew we had to publish it. If we didn't, we would be withholding information from our readers.

As usual, we were criticized for printing Jameson's blood alcohol content.

Just because we print this type of information doesn't mean we like to. It doesn't mean we are trying to sell papers (our paper is free anyway) or make things harder for the victim's family and friends. It just means we are trying to inform our readers the best we can so they can make informed decisions on their own.