By The Editorial Board
Here at The Baylor Lariat, our job is to tell objective and accurate stories about what is going on in the Baylor and Waco communities, even when that includes controversial subjects. We appreciate audience engagement, but our staff has received numerous hate emails and even official complaints, calling us everything from university apologists to ungodly influences. How can we be both?
Considering we are a student publication, it may be hard for our audience to comprehend why or how a bunch of 20-year-olds are covering such hot-button issues. However, at The Lariat, we are treated as professionals and immersed in the world of journalism in order to learn the key components of covering news in a fair and unbiased way.
Although The Lariat — like other Baylor student publications — is owned and published by the university, this relationship directs only the purposes and policies of the paper, not its day-to-day content. As a result, what we publish does not require preliminary approval from the university.
However, that does not mean we are just a bunch of kids publishing whatever random thought pops into our minds. Each and every story goes through three rounds of edits from our student editors, is overseen by adult advisers and strictly follows the protocol of the university.
Staff members of The Lariat have covered a number of controversial topics this academic year, including Title IX religious exemptions, the Waco drag scene, premarital sex and, most recently, a local palm reader. The former two were news or arts & life articles and, as such, were written with complete objectivity. Meanwhile, the latter two were clearly labeled columns — the opinions of individuals rather than the paper as a whole. Each one of these circumstances is different. Here’s why both of them are OK.
First, let’s talk about non-opinion pieces. According to the journalist’s best friend, Merriam-Webster, journalism is defined as “writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation.”
Our job is, quite literally, to show you the facts, to give you a better picture of your community and to offer you the tools you need to make your own judgments — and that is exactly what we did in the first two stories. We could ignore things like drag that don’t gel with Christian ideology, but ignoring them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. These are real phenomena in our community that students are likely to come into contact with at some point, if they haven’t already.
Now, opinion pieces. The distinction here comes between columns and editorials. Columns are the opinions of individuals, while editorials are the opinions of the Editorial Board.
According to the Baylor Student Publications Policy, “The Lariat shall serve as a medium for the publication of responsible student opinion either in the form of editorials, guest opinion columns, or letters to the editor. The opinion page should be clearly labeled as the opinion of the writers only and not necessarily the position of Baylor University.”
While support of premarital sex obviously goes against Christian tradition, that piece was clearly labeled a column. And much to the chagrin of some of the Baylor faithful, not everyone ascribes to that exact same tradition.
The bottom line is this: When we cover a controversial topic or event, it does not mean we condone or encourage it. And when an individual writes a controversial column or opinion, it does not mean we all identify with the beliefs expressed in that column or opinion.
We take pride in our ability to tell truthful, unbiased and well-rounded stories every day that we publish. It is our readers’ right to choose which stories they want to read, and we find value in making a variety of stories accessible to them.
As a part of Baylor’s Christian community, it’s understandable that some of our audience has certain expectations for our content. Many of our staff members — including members of the Editorial Board — are devout Christians and hold those very same views. However, there are many other beliefs and ideologies at Baylor, and it is the job of our staff to tell those stories as well.
We recognize that exposure to controversial subjects may be offensive to some of our audience. However, a valuable part of a college education is being able to see different points of view and experiences, letting that lead us to develop our own thoughts and opinions. You cannot know the whole story until you listen to all the sides.
The Lariat values the feedback we receive from our community and encourages communication. We would love to know how we can better serve our audience in impactful ways, but it’s important to remember that not every article is written for everyone — so please keep that in mind the next time you pick up one of our papers or read us digitally online.
