The Concordian

For the record, I was joking about having too many Corn Hole stories. Yeah, there are a lot, but it really doesn't bother me.

Unless, you're talking about some other manager at a pizza joint who has criticized the paper in his blog...

See, your problem is that you think investigative journalism means asking people questions. Do some real investigating is all people are saying. Educate yourself on open records laws, friends.

Do you think most newspapers sit around and wait for the people they are trying to hold accountable to send them a press release or to give a comment? Please.

Chris and Jesse - you've both held top positions on The Concordian and I'd appreciate it if each of you would cite all those ground-breaking and investigating exposes you or your staffs wrote that you seem to expect each week. Just a simple request.

*investigative

I don't want to get into an online "pissing contest" - "I did this." "Oh yeah, well I did this." I think my body of work & reputation I've earned over the years speaks for itself.

I'm not asking for investigative journalism in every story. What I'm asking for is more coverage of the news. An example would be the Spring Fling/Haiti issue that's been discussed. The SGA is thinking about giving money to disaster relief efforts in Haiti. I've blogged about this on-and-off for about 5 weeks, but have yet to see a news story in The Concordian about it.

That's what I'm asking for. I can't speak for Jesse.

But, like I said in my most-recent blog, I think The Concordian is doing a great job doing what it does. Would I like to see more news? Yeah, but the newspaper isn't just for me. It's for the entire student body. The majority seem to be okay with the way the paper looks and what's inside it. That's good enough for me.

Chris was one of the best investigative reporters The Concordian ever had. He broke a story about the closing of College Courts and the shady way in which Concord University planned to displace families, just to name one. His article let to a heightened level of student advocacy and outreach which allowed many students to keep their homes until they graduated. There were many more.

I had some stuff too, but all that is beside the point. It's a way to defer attention from the real issue at hand. People aren't offering constructive criticism of the paper out of some spiteful "we were better than you" attitude or some superiority complex. They are offering it because they want The Concordian to be the best publication it can be, sharing the truth with students by finding the answers. And, we've been there before. We've done these same things and we've seen then and with hindsight that there was a lot more we could have done. Our time is over, but yours is thriving. We want you to thrive.

The thing that needs to change is that the newspaper is too PR-sy. I've mentioned this before. But we can talk about that somewhere else.

Believe me, Chris and I got our fair share of criticism when we worked for the paper (even from each other.) Did it piss us off? Mostly. Did we take some of it to heart? We would have been stupid not to.

This article says don't complain if you aren't going to help. By offering suggestions to you, we are helping, from a perspective many people do not have.

So, don't get so riled up about it. I've never been much of a fan of Chris blogging about the paper (as the record clearly demonstrates), but in the end is any different than what a newspaper does? They tell the truth or offer alternative perspectives that ultimately pressure everyone to do better. Chris should talk independently with you about the issues, but if he does are you really interested in listening? If you're not, other people are.

I think The Concordian is doing a great job. I also think it can be even greater.