Staff editorial: Statements are inaccurate

Within the past week, The Easterner has been criticized by ASEWU President Ryan Eucker in both verbal and written form. We seek to rectify such criticisms below.

Last week, The Easterner ran an article that centered on a long-debated subject at the university: an athletics fee. In the aforementioned written critique, the accuser stated:

“Despite my request to The Easterner editor to not print an article, The Easterner chose to print one with little respect for the ASEWU’s wishes.”

The incorrect notion implied in the statement is that the ASEWU has editorial control over the newspaper. Having a state-controlled press in the world outside of Eastern is a scary thought; having one inside Eastern’s campus is downright frightful and unprofessional. Dating back to the founding of the country, a free and independent press has been upheld as the best way for reason and truth to reach the general public. The first objective of this newspaper is to leave the students open to all avenues of the truth.

Another portion of the written statement reads: “This article contained no factual information.”

To clarify, quotes are what someone says. When quotation marks are around an interviewee’s words in this newspaper, they are verbatim. If there was any question to the factual information in the article, it should be directed at the person saying the quote.

Again, in this case, we believe our report of the interview was accurate and that Stacey Butler, ASEWU executive vice president, was truthful in her statements. The interviewee’s statements were used extensively in the article and information not quoted within the article was provided by interviews with ASEWU members conducted by The Easterner’s reporters. If doubts still linger about the factual content of the article, we are willing to provide the interview transcript for those interested.

The third accusation against this newspaper came in the form of questioning our accuracy: “The Easterner has been a disservice to the student (sic) in the errors they are publishing,” the statement reads.

It’s true that errors make it into the printed edition of the paper. The whole truth, however, is that those working on this staff are students trying to learn and improve a craft that will hopefully turn into a career. The paper goes under a microscope to find errors. Spelling, grammar and layout errors are all scrutinized during 20-plus hours of work each week by over 20 members on the paper’s staff to bring the paper into a student’s hands.

In all, it results in a publication that we hope represents the values and interests of the student body at Eastern. While criticisms and comments on how to better improve our coverage are always welcome, accusations questioning the credibility of this newspaper will be met with the same scrutiny as the statements mentioned in this editorial.

We look forward to continuing coverage of Eastern’s Cheney and Riverpoint campuses and improving the communication among all aspects of this university. Each week, our reporting will continue to retain the same standards set forth by our predecessors – giving accurate, timely and important information to the students.