Integrity

In the past I have complained a bit about my "job." The fact is, I'm thankful to have it and regardless of how much it sucks, it's good, practical experience that I will need.

Broadside, as a production, is a good paper. The people working for it are good, smart people who seem to (most of the time) strive for the best production possible. I'm not ashamed to say I'm a part of the team.

I do think I have some legitimate complaints.

1) Trying to turn my stories into something they're not. Sometimes by the end of the editing process, it's like I didn't even write it.
2) Not really taking a firm stand on anything by keeping a tight grip on what can be said.
and the most important complaint of all...
3) A lack of overall journalistic integrity. And of course, I'm not directing this at the whole paper since the news is reported fair and things like that. But what I am angry about is a recent column that has appeared twice in Broadside that makes me feel like no one is even paying attention to what is going on.

In lieu of what seems to be the end of what I thought was a rather inappropriate sex column, is now an even more over-the-top and even more tasteless in-your-face shock column by a certain duo of GMU senior girls. Now... I'm okay with expressing oneself and I'm certainly okay with a little shock and awe... but this column is simply too much. Using explicit sexual language and tasteless jokes puts this way beyond the aforementioned sex column that was at least smart. There's no reason for this garbage to be published and it makes me wonder who green-lights this stuff.

Personally, I find the material published inappropriate and seriously lacking in any quality. It's not only poorly written but tasteless and offensive. I know at least a dozen people who find it offensive and I feel like in our very politically correct world, even one offended person should matter, especially for stuff like this. I mean it's one thing if the publication is being intelligent and backing up it's claims while being offensive... but to be offensive just to be offensive isn't what should be published in a university newspaper. Especially one that no one even really reads to begin with. While I think controversy is good publicity, controversy is NOT what should be driving people to pick up the paper, read the column in question, and then throw it away. We should be informing and entertaining while enriching people's lives with stuff they care about. I like to think that's what I provide with my work and I'm kind of ashamed to be in the same section as this crap.

So what should I do? Well I plan to speak with my editor about it. Again, I don't think we should be publishing inappropriate and offensive material. If I was a true nobleman I would make a very public resignation in protest of what Broadside is doing, but honestly I don't think they would miss me enough.

Free speech is one thing. I understand that they have the right to say what they want. But as for George Mason University Student Media publications... we should be striving for excellence--for journalistic quality. That's not what we are seeing here and I firmly believe that free speech has its limits.

This is certainly more than about just some girls who want to shock people. It's about free speech at large. Really, and I mean REALLY... where do we draw the line? When considering our founding fathers and their intentions for free speech, how much did they actually want to give us? I think that they did not want mean for us to have as much as we try to assert or claim is our birthright. (Which of course brings up the HUGE issue of what our natural rights are if we have any.)

If I may posit a reductio ad absurdum, if we let free speech truly be free--to give it access to the mass media as a whole, what would it look like? Any idiot could write for the Wall Street journal or the New York Times and reduce these extraordinarily respectable publications to mere babble and rambling about what the author thinks is true and relevant. Even if they were to allow just one controversial column, don't you think that they would lose respect? And again I'm not talking about a writer making controversial claims with rational, well-thought-out evidence with which to back them up. I'm talking about someone just being downright offensive just so they can be offensive.

Maybe I'm overreacting but I think that there's something wrong with this picture. I ask, "Where is our integrity?"