LAST WEEK, The Cavalier Daily broke a big story. On Tuesday, it reported that two University fraternities, Kappa Alpha and Zeta Psi, had been suspended from the Inter-Fraternity Council and were the subject of punitive action by their national organizations following the discovery of party photographs of guests in racially offensive costumes.
The Washington Post covered the story the following day, citing the CD, and The Associated Press also picked it up. The Cavalier Daily's coverage of the story has been remarkably thorough and professional, with just a few holes.
Tuesday's story answered all of the questions that it could -- when and where the photos were taken, who was involved, what actions were taken by the national fraternities, and what administrators and the black community thought of the photos. The story also included comment, or a "no comment," from the accused fraternities.
My only complaint on the first story is with its lead paragraph, which refers to "alleged racially offensive pictures." "Alleged" is a tricky word to use. In this case, it is unclear whether the author was trying to say that the pictures may or may not exist, or that there are definitely pictures, but that they may or may not be racially offensive. It doesn't sound in the story as though anyone is disputing the existence of the pictures. It would be better to be more specific, and say photos of people costumed in blackface, and then include a quote where someone says the photos are offensive.
On Wednesday, The Cavalier Daily followed the story with news that Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta sororities were also under investigation because some of their members had been at the party in question. The staff did well to follow the story closely the second day, and again, the story was thorough and informative. However, there was no comment from the national sorority organizations, and no evidence of an attempt to get comment. And I would have liked to see it structured differently. The news about the sororities was buried down in the third paragraph of the story, and it should have been the lead.
I should also point out that Wednesday's story noted Zeta Psi and Kappa Alpha had been displaying racially offensive costumes during a joint Halloween party. You'll notice there's no "alleged" in that sentence, calling into question again the usage of the word the previous day.
The last sentence of Wednesday's story said that officials from the University of Tennessee and Oklahoma State University were available to comment. It should have said that they were unavailable.
My only other gripe about Wednesday's story was that it did not include all the background on the incident, particularly the fact that the blackface was discovered online, in photos that had since been removed from the Party Pics Web site. Reporters should never assume that readers are following a story the way that they are. Not everyone reads the paper every day -- though, of course, they should -- and even avid readers might be out of town or too busy to read on occasion. So, stories, particularly follow-ups on breaking news, should always include enough background to bring the reader up to speed.
The staff devoted some newsprint to the story on Thursday as well, for an article reporting that the national Kappa Alpha organization had lifted the University fraternity's suspension. Again, the reporting on the breaking part of the story was thorough, but again the story was lacking in background.
Thursday's article should have included the fact that the IFC-JC is investigating, and that the two sororities are under investigation as well. The author also neglected to mention that Zeta Psi had been placed on social probation by its national group, and that it had also been suspended from the IFC. Also, while there was comment from the national group, there was no comment from the local fraternity.
And I have a minor gripe with the lead of that story, which had two time elements. It read: "Two days after news broke that a Halloween party co-sponsored by Kappa Alpha and Zeta Psi fraternities included three individuals dressed in blackface, the national administrative office of the Kappa Alpha Order lifted its suspension on its University chapter yesterday." Best thing to do is just switch the clauses, so it reads "The national administrative office ... dressed in blackface."
All in all, a solid job for student reporters. But I trust the staff will keep in mind the need for relevant background in the future. It's sometimes easy to forget that not everyone is as up on the news as the reporters are. But it's a fact of life, and newspapers must accommodate latecomers to an unfolding story.
(Masha Herbst can be reached at ombud@
cavalierdaily.com.)
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