The Clock is a newspaper. Perhaps because we’re students, people don’t take us seriously. For clarification: there is nothing of importance on this campus that The Clock staff will not cover. It is the duty of every newspaper to report fairly, accurately and without bias on issues that crop up in the midst classes, sports games, extra-curricular activities, administration and everything in-between.
No one on staff takes this lightly. Each member realizes the responsibility that accompanies their position and the consequences that follow if those responsibilities are shirked.
They say “No news is good news,” and for the sake of sleep, we wish this semester were quiet. It’s not. Several very important and sensitive issues have developed, demanding our attention.
It would be a grave injustice to the student body to ignore these issues; to write only about the things that don’t wind up with us stepping on someone’s toes. We are not about ruining someone’s life – we are about making sure that every story is covered to the best of our ability.
There are several policies and procedures that we, as a staff, have put into place to ensure that we are fulfilling our duty to the campus in the most objective manner. For example, high profile stories automatically default to the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, Content Manager, News Editor or a combination of the four. Staff writers and contributors cannot report on a story in which they know the parties involved, whether the issue is positive or negative. Each story goes through a strict and subdued screening process before it is seen in print. However, this process isn’t simply policies; it’s good journalism.
We do everything we can to report accurately and fairly. We work with public relations, the University and Town Police, University Administration, students and anyone else we have to talk to so we can get the job done and cover a story properly. That’s our job.
We recognize, however, that the campus may still have questions, comments or suggestions about the work that The Clock does. To accommodate this, we have scheduled a forum in the HUB Fireplace Lounge on December 6 at 8:00 p.m. for everyone to discuss these issues. We hope that this forum will further enable The Clock to properly serve the campus.