Sunday, September 26, 2004

Time keeps slipping, sliping...

I am not really sure how much time I want to put into this... But I think that it will be a good thing to have. Especially for those moments when I need to vent...

Right now I don’t really feel like reading Meno like I probably need too. I have until Thursday, but I really shouldn't put it off.

I wrote a nice long letter to the editor of The Chimes (For the uninitiated non-Biola people that is the school newspaper) that I will post at the end.

I read on Foxnews.com today that Prince Harry is going to join the British navy. I had to ask one of the guys on my dorm, "would that work in the US? To have the son of the president in the military?" (not specifically looking at the G. W. Bush debacle.) I had the son of an ambassador in my AIT class for Combat Medic School and there was all kind of problems with that. It just makes me wonder if it is actually the position of the relative that is the problem for the kid or is it the upbringing of the kid because of the parents position that makes for bad situations? Will Harry's upbringing, with weekends in Buckingham Palace, etc. adequately prepare him for military life? Will his instructors and superiors compensate or discriminate for that upbringing? Lots of fun questions regarding that situation. Think that I wrote enough for today.

I am now going to post that letter I wrote...

To whom it may concern;

I have attended Biola University for nearly five weeks now and have read all of the published issues of “The Chimes” to date. I am impressed with the overall look of the paper and I recognize the staff’s struggle to present a professional appearance. I have a few but specific issues that I would like to address; the obvious gender dominance in the staff and its affect on story choice and portrayal, the a few obvious errors in spelling or accuracy, and the use of a picture of several magazines in a cover photo when you go on to decry the magazines place in the Biola community due to their picture content..

I spoke with one of “The Chimes” students as they were administering a survey of church attendance, about the disproportionate number of guys to gals on the staff and received the following response, “Do we hire guys who are less enthusiastic or less skilled, or girls who are enthusiastic and excellent writers?” The individual makes a very valid point that skill and enthusiasm should have greater precedence in staffing than gender. However, to do that they assume that guys are less enthusiastic and less skilled than girls in that area. The bias makes itself known in predominantly in the choices of sources for articles rather than in the articles themselves. For example, the furniture article in this week’s edition, the interviewed students were 3 female to one male, the subjects of the photo were female. This is not to say that gender has anything to do with furniture, but rather to point out a subtle trend that transcends furniture and leave guys feeling a little disenfranchised. Toss in relatively polar argument pieces like “Should guys wear shirts?” and “Pornography issues on campus” and this subtle trend becomes a very easy escape mechanism for the skeptics to completely blow off a good piece of journalism as a “sexist rant.”

While small, the errors in question are an issue more because of their placement rather than frequency. For example, in your Campus Talk piece two weeks ago you quoted a student as having been “at the Homor reading.” The mistake was blatant only because it was set apart from the page and in bold type. The second instance is on the most recent addition and I think deserves an article of clarification, along with a possible explanation of what the “Reserve/Guard” commitment entails (I am a reservist and wouldn’t mind writing that article if possible). It is highly doubtful that Specialist Leon is in an “Arisol” unit, but rather is being deployed with an “Air Assault Infantry” unit such as the 101st Airborne Division. For a photo caption that was above the fold on the front page, this was a mistake that should have been resolved with the source way before publication. The last point, which shares a
general public outcry, is rather multifaceted as it must deal with the photograph and the article in question. First, the rational for such a photo to be published let alone center of the front page escapes me. What is the point made by illustrating a weakness among a portion of the student body by publishing a photo that feeds that weakness? Second, the scope of the article surprised me, as the article chose to demonstrate a pervasive problem with a very limited example. That example, I feel was not adequate to describe the immensity of the problem and rather could have confused readers who had a limited understanding of the problem to begin with. Lust is a major issue both in our nation and on Biola campus, it is not bound by gender nor is it limited to the printed page. There was very little light shed on the roots of the problem itself. Take for example the recent New York Times Magazine article, the author sought out a member of the Biola Community who was a homosexual in an effort to get to a deeper understanding of the issue, not just what the school had to say or the average student, but rather by one who is affected. There are a number of resources that could have been tapped as a source, anonymously if necessary. I would like to repeat that I am very impressed with the dedication of The Chimes to being a good newspaper. I think that in many ways you have seceded. I just encourage you to take it up-a-notch. Go deeper with your stories. Diversify and step out of your comfort zones, I believe it will make for better writers, better reading and a better paper.