2008 Woodie Awards
And the Debate Over Green's Op-Ed Continues...
Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: Opinions
To the Editors:
I was one of the signatories to the letter published in the 2/21 issue of Concordy which urged the paper to cover the talks it publishes criticisms of, in this case, a talk by a prominent figure from al-Jazeera's staff who spoke about media coverage of Israel/Palestine.
The editors wrote a response which seemed to grant the point. They pled that the lapse as due to insufficient resources. Apparently there were only enough resources to interview one critic of the talk and no one else. Perhaps publishing some of the other letters the editors have received from faculty and students would add other valuable perspectives.
The editors were quite brought up by what they perceived as the uncivil 'tone' of the letter mainly because of a quip about 'taking time out of their busy schedules' to cover the events properly.
This line was somehow interpreted as a criticism of Prof. Berk! I hope it is not 'uncivil' to say this is just confusion? It was the editors who did not cover the story, not Prof. Berk!
Besides it is not the editors' special prerogative to determine what counts as civil tone. Anyone can play that game, and it is easy to take offense. But I do thank them for admission of fault in the coverage of this story. And to address the resources problem, I am sure various faculty members and others can produce lists of people who can offer various viewpoints on important issues.
Felmon Davis
Dept of Philosophy
The faculty letter criticizing the Concordiensis for printing an interview with Professor Berk was unjustifiable and patronizing. Since when is it considered biased to present the opinion of a respected professor in the opinions section of a newspaper? If this group of faculty members were truly committed to "the spirit of open and free discussion", they would have submitted an editorial expressing their views of this "important international issue" rather than condemning the Concordiensis for doing just that. I am outraged at the lack of respect these professors have for the opinions of Professor Berk and for the "journalistic integrity" of a group of hard-working editors.
Abby Cable '10
We would like to clarify a few of Professor Davis' comments. We have published every letter that has been submitted for publication on the issue. We did not, and do not, admit fault, and instead in our responses last week tried to see both sides of this disagreement and acknowledged that coverage of the event would have been ideal, but not necessary. We certainly did not make a "plea" as Professor Davis writes. We stand by every decision that the Concordy staff has made and everything that we have written. Professor Davis' tactic of spinning what were supposed to be conciliatory statements, meant to end this disagreement, into something entirely different is unnecessary. The staff at the Concordy takes very seriously this kind of criticism, and we can only hope that the issue is now resolved.
Sincerely,
F. William Green - World Views Editor
Patrick Fergusson - Opinions Editor
I was one of the signatories to the letter published in the 2/21 issue of Concordy which urged the paper to cover the talks it publishes criticisms of, in this case, a talk by a prominent figure from al-Jazeera's staff who spoke about media coverage of Israel/Palestine.
The editors wrote a response which seemed to grant the point. They pled that the lapse as due to insufficient resources. Apparently there were only enough resources to interview one critic of the talk and no one else. Perhaps publishing some of the other letters the editors have received from faculty and students would add other valuable perspectives.
The editors were quite brought up by what they perceived as the uncivil 'tone' of the letter mainly because of a quip about 'taking time out of their busy schedules' to cover the events properly.
This line was somehow interpreted as a criticism of Prof. Berk! I hope it is not 'uncivil' to say this is just confusion? It was the editors who did not cover the story, not Prof. Berk!
Besides it is not the editors' special prerogative to determine what counts as civil tone. Anyone can play that game, and it is easy to take offense. But I do thank them for admission of fault in the coverage of this story. And to address the resources problem, I am sure various faculty members and others can produce lists of people who can offer various viewpoints on important issues.
Felmon Davis
Dept of Philosophy
The faculty letter criticizing the Concordiensis for printing an interview with Professor Berk was unjustifiable and patronizing. Since when is it considered biased to present the opinion of a respected professor in the opinions section of a newspaper? If this group of faculty members were truly committed to "the spirit of open and free discussion", they would have submitted an editorial expressing their views of this "important international issue" rather than condemning the Concordiensis for doing just that. I am outraged at the lack of respect these professors have for the opinions of Professor Berk and for the "journalistic integrity" of a group of hard-working editors.
Abby Cable '10
We would like to clarify a few of Professor Davis' comments. We have published every letter that has been submitted for publication on the issue. We did not, and do not, admit fault, and instead in our responses last week tried to see both sides of this disagreement and acknowledged that coverage of the event would have been ideal, but not necessary. We certainly did not make a "plea" as Professor Davis writes. We stand by every decision that the Concordy staff has made and everything that we have written. Professor Davis' tactic of spinning what were supposed to be conciliatory statements, meant to end this disagreement, into something entirely different is unnecessary. The staff at the Concordy takes very seriously this kind of criticism, and we can only hope that the issue is now resolved.
Sincerely,
F. William Green - World Views Editor
Patrick Fergusson - Opinions Editor
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
nbaumann
Neal Baumann
posted 3/15/08 @ 6:13 PM EST
Keep up the good work. Freedom of the press seems only to exist on college campuses when the articles or opinions agree with the general views of the, mostly liberal and pro-Palestine faculty. (Continued…)
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