While we acknowledge that there is no way for people to completely separate themselves from their personal perspectives, we do think it is possible to set these aside and report fairly. We are confident that our reporters have the ability and the training to do their jobs properly.
We teach our reporters the basics of news reporting--interviewing, researching, writing. We also hold seminars on journalistic ethics and hope instill in our reporters a sense of what news is and how it should be reported. All writes are under the supervision of students with several years' experience reporting and editing. Our executives are in close contact with professional journalists who offer us advice, and many have spent summers working for professional news organizations.
Speaking to the Community?
It seems ironic to us that The Crimson should under fire as being part of the Harvard establishment, since the paper's editors have long conceived of it as a gadfly buzzing around the University's administration.
The Crimson likes to think of itself as the voice of a large body of students consistently speaking out against the forces of injustice, ineptitude, hypocrisy and bureaucracy at Harvard and beyond. Increasingly, we have begun to realize that we cannot speak to the community as a whole as long as there are segments of the community that go virtually unrepresented on our staff and that do not trust us.
The Crimson's editors are working hard to respond to the concern that have been expressed by people both outside and inside the paper. Tonight, Crimson executives will meet with representatives of several campus minority groups.
A number of Harvard affiliates, including DuBois professor of the Humanities Henry Louis Gates Jr., have offered to help us in our efforts to recruit more minority students.
Among other plan, we would like to invite minority journalists to speak at The Crimson's training seminars for contributing reporters. We are also interested in putting together an Institute of Politics discussion on minorities in the media. And beginning next fall we intend to establish one Crimson executive as a sort of chief personnel officer. This person will coordinate recruiting efforts and will work to make sure that those who do come to The Crimson feel comfortable.
The Crimson has a great deal to offer Harvard students--it can provide them with a place to learn to report, write, edit, take photos, design or conduct business for a daily paper.
Perhaps even more importantly, it provides many students with a place to belong and to feel that they are making a difference on this campus. We would like it to do so for more.
Maggie S. Tucker '93 is co-managing editor of The Crimson. In 1990, she was The Crimson's minority issues beat reporter.