Editor-in-Chief apologizes to those offended by recent sex article
Robert Teal
Issue date: 11/9/09 Section: Opinion
There comes a time in every man's life where he has to man-up and apologize for making a mistake. And I've had way too many of those.
Recently, in our Sex Series, one of our writers cited a "column" on CNN Health's webpage that stated that the act of fellatio could help prevent breast cancer. It has recently come to my attention that the webpage was a hoax, and I too was suckered into it. While the page looked completely legitimate, it was a failure on my part as far as checking for content and verifying sources, and I take full responsibility. I know that this wasn't a life-or-death situation, but it still embarrasses this publication and the University when we get suckered into things like this. I will do my best not to let it happen again.
This situation was brought to my attention through a complaint from an out-of-town family who had been touring our campus with their child, trying to decide whether or not they wanted to send their student to our campus. Apparently, they picked up the particular copy of The Contraband in question, read it, basically decided that we were a bunch of perverts, and wrote letters to everyone from the Director of Public Communications to the Lake Charles Chamber of Commerce. That may be an exaggeration, but you get my point. They wrote a lot of letters to a lot of important people.
At this point, I feel I have to point out that the parents were offended by the content, not necessarily the fact that the University got suckered into a hoax (which to me is the much more troubling part of the issue). Let me just say as Editor-in-Chief of The Contraband, that this publication will never edit content based on what might be perceived as graphic or offensive in nature. This is a University newspaper designed to serve the student body. If you guys want to know about the porn star coming into town and what she has to say (and if you write letters to msucontraband@gmail.com and ask me to cover such a story) then by all means I will send a reporter there. My purpose is to provide students with a forum that they can use to discuss controversial and adult issues.
Recently, in our Sex Series, one of our writers cited a "column" on CNN Health's webpage that stated that the act of fellatio could help prevent breast cancer. It has recently come to my attention that the webpage was a hoax, and I too was suckered into it. While the page looked completely legitimate, it was a failure on my part as far as checking for content and verifying sources, and I take full responsibility. I know that this wasn't a life-or-death situation, but it still embarrasses this publication and the University when we get suckered into things like this. I will do my best not to let it happen again.
This situation was brought to my attention through a complaint from an out-of-town family who had been touring our campus with their child, trying to decide whether or not they wanted to send their student to our campus. Apparently, they picked up the particular copy of The Contraband in question, read it, basically decided that we were a bunch of perverts, and wrote letters to everyone from the Director of Public Communications to the Lake Charles Chamber of Commerce. That may be an exaggeration, but you get my point. They wrote a lot of letters to a lot of important people.
At this point, I feel I have to point out that the parents were offended by the content, not necessarily the fact that the University got suckered into a hoax (which to me is the much more troubling part of the issue). Let me just say as Editor-in-Chief of The Contraband, that this publication will never edit content based on what might be perceived as graphic or offensive in nature. This is a University newspaper designed to serve the student body. If you guys want to know about the porn star coming into town and what she has to say (and if you write letters to msucontraband@gmail.com and ask me to cover such a story) then by all means I will send a reporter there. My purpose is to provide students with a forum that they can use to discuss controversial and adult issues.
