Newspapers 101

At the University of Miami there are 280 student organizations, more than 15,000 students, almost 10,200 faculty and employees and only one newspaper.

The news, sports, entertainment (EDGE) and opinion section editors would love to have more space to cover everything and everyone, but we cannot and we do not enjoy receiving hate mail, disgruntled phone calls or angry looks from those who do not receive coverage.

We have a box for press releases, and we read our e-mails to determine coverage. We also encourage EVERYONE to send us concerns, problems or event coverage requests. Still, with an average of 16 or 20 page issues- half of which are ads, breaking news and football games-it’s obvious that we can’t please everyone.

Plus, when we find out about events a day or two ahead of time, we have to arrange for a photographer and assign a writer to the story as well. Full-time students do not always have the time to drop everything and cover an event on late notice, so please notify us of events as soon as possible if you want to be considered for coverage.

Also, we are not in the business of public relations; we are a newspaper. We do not send articles to anyone outside the newsroom to review before print. Freedom of press is part of the First Amendment, and until George Bush does away with it we plan to hold it dear.

Although we are here to keep a record of university events, we are not here to promote Student Government or any other organizations. We are the university’s watchdogs, not lapdogs.

That said, everyone on the editorial board is a UM student and proud of it. We have no desire to cast anyone in a negative light or give the university a bad rep, but we do have the desire to present the facts, find the truth and inform the public of news-good or bad. Anyone who does not agree with that can turn the page.

Editorials represent the majority view of The Miami Hurricane editorial board.