This is a student-run newspaper. And it has been since its inception in 1903.
It actually started as a sports-oriented newspaper but has since grown to cover not only Virginia Tech but all of the New River Valley.
Every aspect of the Collegiate Times is student-run. As explained in my last column, "The right stuff: What it takes to make a college newspaper," (CT, Sept. 26) the editorial office is composed entirely of students, from the writers all the way to the top editors.
Ideally, every journalist would be an impartial entity, relaying only the hard facts and omitting any personal bias or editorializing. Unfortunately, as I'm sure we're all aware, there is always some level of bias in the media. The perception of media bias stems mostly from the mainstream media. What the audience has to keep in mind is that journalists cannot possibly report every fact or cover every story. It's just not possible. At the CT, our reporters know they have to consult all sides of an issue. If all available resources are exhausted and any side has still not commented, then we print exactly that: "So-and-so did not respond to the Collegiate Times' requests for comment." This way we are forthcoming with our methods and practices of producing stories.
In 1988, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky developed the Propaganda Model in their book "Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media." The model alleges systematic biases in the media through five filters: ownership, funding sources, sourcing, flak and ideological threats.
How many times a month do people write columns or letters to the editor about writers not reporting the facts or skewing articles? I can think of one that we got a kick out of at the office last year. The editorial board published an editorial about the SGA. The complaint was that it was one-sided and didn't contain facts or sources. Keep in mind, folks, that an editorial doesn't have to contain any of these things; it's the opinion of the editorial board -- that's why it's on the opinions page and not the news page.
The Collegiate Times is not a mainstream medium such as FOX news or MSNBC (even though we'd like it to be); therefore, we don't exactly fall into Herman and Chomsky's model. The CT is owned by the Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech. Tech does not own this organization, nor are its employees Tech faculty members -- notice it's "at Virginia Tech" not "of Virginia Tech." EMCVT's goal is not to make money, but to provide educational opportunities for students to be involved with the media. EMCVT has no say in what the CT decides to publish; therefore, ownership is not a factor in our coverage.
The Collegiate Times generates revenue solely through advertising sales and subscriptions. We are not being paid by any entity, so we don't have anyone threatening to cut funding if we don't run this or that story.
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The schools I went to were out of control. ,
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