Here’s what I’m dealing with today (it’s Sunday):
Received this note from a colleague (in another department). It is the colleague’s response to a really badly handled request for an interview. May I make a suggestion and say that every student bungle is a teachable moment? That boat got missed here and now I am, incredibly, having to referee a stand-off between a faculty member and a student.
“There is nothing about your email address that indicates or verifies that you are are affiliated with SEU Hilltop Views newspaper. As far as I know, this is coming from someone’s iPhone.
Furthermore, asking a professor to answer personal questions (even if you have good intentions) regarding a student that requires an ASAP response is troubling…not to mention that I am concerned about your ability to manage your time efficiently.
Additionally, you have made assumptions in contacting me. Why are you contacting me??
Until I can verify who you are I will NOT respond to you inquiry.”
The interview request:
“Hello professor X,
My name is (Student Journalist) and I’m with the Hilltop Views newspaper. I’m doing a profile article on (a 15-year-old SEU student) and I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me
1. What kind of student is she?
2. What was your reaction when you found out her age?
3. Do you think her age puts her at an academic disadvantage?
Please answer ASAP!
Thank you,
(Student Journalist)
Sent from my iPhone
Oh, and then there’s this, which also came by email today. Every day I have a renewed sense of being appreciated:
From: “Hilltop Views” <hilltopviewsonline@gmail.com>
To: jenaheath@stedwards.edu
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 1:41:09 PM
Subject: Fwd: Editors and Staff Writers
I sent this to all the editors but then thought I should probably send it
to you too.
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: REDACTED
Date: Sun, Oct 27, 2013 at 9:02 PM
Subject: Editors and Staff Writers
To: hilltopviewsonline@gmail.com
Howdy “Hilltop Views,”
Over the recent years the Hilltop Views offered quite balanced opinions
of politics, events, etc. Please let me explain why I find our SEU
newspaper today disappointing. I suppose all newspapers carry the
philosophy of the owners and editors but, if their opinions are not
balanced as “news papers,” they can easily become mostly sources of
political propaganda.
Three major functions of newspapers are entertainment, information, and
instruction. The Hilltop Views had these when it became a five-star college
paper developed by the late Professor Michaele Kay. She came to us after
several decades with the Austin American-Statesman. She brought with her a
political balance still found in the Statesman. The two editorial pages
show this balance by having pro and con columns for proposed projects, like
those by Capital Metro, and columns by nationally recognized left and
right-leaning writers for political issues. It is also seen in its choice
of “letters to the editor” and even wide spread throughout its choice of
comics, like Doonesbury and Mallard Fillmore, side by side, and others.
The directors of the Hilltop Views certainly recognize the difference
between facts, suggestions, and opinions. Opinions, I find, are generally
biased by accentuating some facts and down-playing or omitting others, and
tempered by the writer’s culture and experience. The whole truth would not
be an opinion but, rather, a fact. An example of biased opinions I
witnessed years ago was in a debate between Kennedy and Nixon. Several
times they would both use the same set of statistics and draw diametrically
opposite conclusions.
It is my own opinion, for example, that each person or group of people is
a unique and incomprehensible combination of irreconcilable contradictions.
It follows that I’d defend the right we have to our personal opinions.
However, I feel that opinions published in a “news paper” like ours ought
to be presenting various points of view of a given controversial topic. The
columns focused on Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Michele Bachman defend
well a certain political opinion but nothing accompanies them with a
different point of view to be able to compare them. Sadly I do not find a
balance of leanings to the left and right, or pros and cons, in the Hilltop
Views in the choice of political opinions to propagate.
Sincerely yours,
REDACTED
My response:
Hi REDACTED,
Thanks for keeping me in the loop. I hope you suggested that you would like this printed as a letter to the editor?
If this helps, I am an experienced journalist and Michele was a dear friend. I came to St. Edward’s in 2008, at her urging, and after 17 years as a newspaper reporter and editor, including as Washington/White House correspondent for the Austin American-Statesman covering George W. Bush’s presidential campaign and the Bush White House.
Michele was clear with me, as she handed over her job, that Hilltop Views belongs to the students. So was everyone else involved in my hiring. There is no prior review, by me or anyone else, and I guide, but do not dictate what the students write in all sections, including the editorial page. Some years it’s all a joy, with smart, strong, students at the helm who are open to advice about balance, news values, etc. Some years, not so much. Had Michele remained at St. Edward’s longer than three years, I have absolutely no doubt you would have found yourself writing the same letter at some point.
It hurts me, frankly, to be indirectly held responsible for supporting their independence as young journalists, independence Michele championed even as she tore her hair in frustration over much of what they wrote!
All best,
Jena Heath