2008 Woodie Awards
Media missteps
Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: Editorial
- Page 1 of 1
We are a liberal arts university of roughly 2,400 students in the middle of Indiana. Sometimes, it's easy for us to think of ourselves as small and unimportant. Then something like the Delta Zeta sorority controversy explodes.
Following the release of Sam Dillon's article in the New York Times, major media outlets descended on our little college town. The phones in The DePauw newsroom, often relatively silent, were suddenly ringing off the hook. And with each phone conversation, our concept of the media was turned even further upside down. In class discussions, media bias and ethics are common topics, but it isn't often that we get the experience of speaking to reporters from major news outlets first-hand.
In short, it's left us a bit disillusioned.
We at The DePauw feel that the New York Times article was not only unbalanced, but displayed several inaccuracies, as well. Numerous reporters and several of Dillon's sources told him that, although nationals' actions were perceived as unethical, they were not based on race. For whatever reason he did not listen, and the rest of the media followed suit.
Various outlets ran with the idea that our campus is one that values promiscuity, beauty and exclusivity above all else - a common perception people have of sororities in general. This story has expanded into the media circus we now see because it tells people what they want to hear: that greek life is for rich, attractive whites bent on secrecy and exclusion.
But on another level it is clear some of the reporters assigned to the story did not take the time to research all sides of the story. Rarely was it mentioned that 71 percent of students at DePauw are greek, an important fact to place the story in context. Many DePauw students also claim that, though they are greek here, they never would have joined a house at many other universities; any trace of this idea was absent, as well.
But those facts do not make good news. What makes good news is that 75 percent of DZ's minorities were asked to take alumnae status. Forget that 59 percent of the women interviewed were asked to take alumnae status, as well. A sorority on an 85 percent-white campus went from 42 members to six; the odds say those six are likely to be white. DZ nationals did not discriminate based on race; their actions were equally unethical toward all members. That should have been newsworthy enough.
Apparently, the pressure of deadlines left little time to get the facts straight - even facts as simple as knowing it was the Delta Zeta sorority and not "Delta Zelta" as Paula Zahn stated on CNN. We certainly aren't labelling our own coverage as the pinnacle of journalism - but we made an effort to cover the story correctly, which is more than can be said of our many recent visitors.
In a week or so, the media will leave. We won't hear Barbara Walters mentioning DZ on "The View" while we're eating breakfast. We will no longer see familiar faces and DePauw landmarks on the nightly news. And we won't have the nation looking at us through a magnifying glass.
Instead, the women on all sides of this issue will return to healing their now-deeper emotional wounds. But, hey, at least no one will confuse us with DePaul anymore.
Following the release of Sam Dillon's article in the New York Times, major media outlets descended on our little college town. The phones in The DePauw newsroom, often relatively silent, were suddenly ringing off the hook. And with each phone conversation, our concept of the media was turned even further upside down. In class discussions, media bias and ethics are common topics, but it isn't often that we get the experience of speaking to reporters from major news outlets first-hand.
In short, it's left us a bit disillusioned.
We at The DePauw feel that the New York Times article was not only unbalanced, but displayed several inaccuracies, as well. Numerous reporters and several of Dillon's sources told him that, although nationals' actions were perceived as unethical, they were not based on race. For whatever reason he did not listen, and the rest of the media followed suit.
Various outlets ran with the idea that our campus is one that values promiscuity, beauty and exclusivity above all else - a common perception people have of sororities in general. This story has expanded into the media circus we now see because it tells people what they want to hear: that greek life is for rich, attractive whites bent on secrecy and exclusion.
But on another level it is clear some of the reporters assigned to the story did not take the time to research all sides of the story. Rarely was it mentioned that 71 percent of students at DePauw are greek, an important fact to place the story in context. Many DePauw students also claim that, though they are greek here, they never would have joined a house at many other universities; any trace of this idea was absent, as well.
But those facts do not make good news. What makes good news is that 75 percent of DZ's minorities were asked to take alumnae status. Forget that 59 percent of the women interviewed were asked to take alumnae status, as well. A sorority on an 85 percent-white campus went from 42 members to six; the odds say those six are likely to be white. DZ nationals did not discriminate based on race; their actions were equally unethical toward all members. That should have been newsworthy enough.
Apparently, the pressure of deadlines left little time to get the facts straight - even facts as simple as knowing it was the Delta Zeta sorority and not "Delta Zelta" as Paula Zahn stated on CNN. We certainly aren't labelling our own coverage as the pinnacle of journalism - but we made an effort to cover the story correctly, which is more than can be said of our many recent visitors.
In a week or so, the media will leave. We won't hear Barbara Walters mentioning DZ on "The View" while we're eating breakfast. We will no longer see familiar faces and DePauw landmarks on the nightly news. And we won't have the nation looking at us through a magnifying glass.
Instead, the women on all sides of this issue will return to healing their now-deeper emotional wounds. But, hey, at least no one will confuse us with DePaul anymore.
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