I'm sure you've heard it all by now: "The world of journalism has seen better days," or "I hate the media," or "Remember the time I spit on a journalist?"
It seems like every time I read the paper, I hear another voice from the community saying the media can't be trusted. And after the year that the media had, I can't say I really blame the people.
Now, it wasn't just Jayson Blair and the New York Times that brought us to this place, although they may have had more than a little to do with it. Just the other day, I reread a story that ran in April about an L.A. Times photographer who doctored a photo to help add to its drama. He superimposed two photos by placing an Israeli man holding a baby closer to a British soldier instructing civilians to take cover from gunfire. He says he did it to clarify the meaning of the photo and give the reader a better understanding of what was going on.
I say they both twisted the truth to fit their own needs. I don't care who you are - L.A. Times photographer, New York Times reporter or Spectrum writer - you learn on Day 1 that knowingly altering the truth is unacceptable.
At this point in time, the newspaper industry can't afford to push readers away with distrust; we're a business that's on the decline, especially in the college-aged demographic. Most people who are your age don't read the paper. It's a simple fact.
According to the Simmons Market Research Bureau, only 48 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 24 read the newspaper daily. That's less than half, and to be honest, I think that number is fairly high.
I just don't understand. We're in college; we're hungry to learn. So, why aren't we hungry to learn about current events? Why are we content not to know what's going on around us?
People - mainly adults, I believe - say that our age bracket doesn't care about much. We're interested in partying, television (although not the nightly news, apparently) and whatever is going on directly in front of our faces.
Here at The Spectrum, we focus on just that - what is going on at UB. That's our niche and it's something that we can do better than any other source. We're hoping that our coverage might make the university community start reading newspapers again, even if it's only for one article per issue; even if it's only for the comics; even if it's only for the editorials that you love to hate.
We don't deliver a ton of local Buffalo news - that's what you have The Buffalo News for. For world and national news, you also have a free subscription to the New York Times and USA Today through the Collegiate Readership Program. We, on the other hand, are focused on delivering news from all aspects of the university community, and we're focused on doing it well.
A lot of times, The Spectrum gets a bad rap. People seem to think that we deliver second-day news and are full of national wire pieces (pieces written by writers outside of The Spectrum) to fill space. Last year - aside from in our national news briefs - we ran about six wire stories during the year. We've been accepted into the Associated Collegiate Press and are up for several of its annual awards, including Newspaper Pacemaker, Reporter of the Year and Story of the Year.
We are improving the paper little by little each year, but we still have a long way to go. We still make mistakes. We probably always will, but we try to avoid making the same ones twice.
But that's where you come in. I hope that anyone who finds something wrong with the paper or just has something to say - both good and bad - please, let us know. You have a couple different ways to do this. First, you can always stop into the office here at 132 Student Union to talk to us, even if you have an idea for an article. Second, you can write to us. We love to hear feedback of any kind and have an entire section on page 5 devoted to it. Write a letter to the editor. You can drop it off at the office or send it to spectrum-editorial@buffalo.edu.
We look forward to serving this university in the coming year. I look forward to hearing from all of you, and especially hope that none of you decide to spit on passing reporters.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
