Press-ing Issues
There was very brief discussion on the Ole Miss journalism listserv about this article today, which I thought was kind of interesting. On the one hand, I've read the column in question, and feel that it's kind of silly, not too well done, and not particularly great journalism. I would note that several other college papers have a similar column, but Ole Miss can't always get away with things other colleges can. Perhaps most intriguing to me was Ralph Braseth's comment that it was "a mistake for students to print the column. It jeopardizes the credibility of the newspaper. It offends too many people." Frankly, I tend to agree, but it's interesting seeing the head of the student media center (sorry, The S. Gale Denley Student Media Center [well, actually I guess not until Friday]) criticizing The DM publicly. Particularly coming so soon after the press controversy, in which The DM's editor took issue with the j-school just as publically (and even more harshly semi-publicly). While I commend The DM staff for the courage of their convictions, of course, I would also note that sometimes you have to pick your battles carefully. Yeah, certainly I believe The DM has the right to print this column, but I do kind of have to question whether it's worth it.
And, having to add an adult content disclaimer for the how-many-th time in the last couple of days, the link to the article in question is here. I'm including it solely for the purpose of background for discussion. Don't go if you don't want to read it. And here's another one, in which the feedback is less dominated by comments made since The Clarion-Ledger's article (If you want more, you know how to use a search engine).

:: :: 20:55 :: David :: [permalink] ::