The editors of The Cavalier Daily have done a disservice to their readers, as well as their writers, by publishing such poor journalism as "June Bug" (Feb. 9) and "Love is Propaganda." I do not suggest that Cavalier Daily writers avoid controversial topics; however, recent writers have gone to press with ignorantly-written columns. With "June Bug," either the editors are equally as uninformed as their writer, or they read the prejudiced column and decided to run it for the sake of creating a controversy. A similar issue arose with "Love is Propaganda;" I struggle to follow the writer's logic, and by the time an analogy is made to Communist propaganda I am totally lost in empty rhetoric. In both of these cases, I question what Cavalier Daily editors were thinking - frankly, I doubt they believed their writers were making compelling arguments. Nonetheless, they went forward with printing, resulting in a swell of negative (at times virulent) feedback.
There's nothing inherently wrong with a story about a student's trip to South Africa, just like there's nothing wrong with a reasoned critique of the Love is Love campaign. However, these columns are written in such an uninformed manner that they reflect poorly on the writers, The Cavalier Daily, and the University. Shouldn't The Cavalier Daily editors hold their writers to a higher standard? Perhaps the editors are more concerned with creating buzz over articles they know will evoke a passionate reaction from students who feel personally wronged by their writer's words. While the paper has certainly received a lot of recent attention for these articles, it has come at a cost. These writers have been maligned, the paper's journalistic credibility tarnished and many students left wondering how The Cavalier Daily actually represents our University. Surely the editors care about at least one of these things.\n\nBen Chrisinger\nCLAS IV
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