Pick up a copy of the Daily Egyptian on any given day, and bad news will stare you in the eye with the latest tragedy or mishap. The police blotter daily reflects our students' worse moments: sexual assault, thefts, public urination. The paper even receives criticism on particularly heavy news weeks when it seems that bad is running rampant.
"Why can't you write more positive pieces?" some readers ask.
Well, the simple answer is that a newspaper reflects its community. The positive stories come from the positive things that community members and students are involved in.
We reporters may enjoy the thrill of hunting down corruption or jumping over yellow tape to report an accident. But we still grieve when the victims or the perpetrators are our fellow community members and SIUC students.
And the truth is that if you pick up the Daily Egyptian on any given day, you will find that the positive stories outweigh the negative. Certainly the shootings and the rapes, the scandals and administrative bickering, make for the splashy headlines.
But most days, you do not have to look further than page one to read about SIUC students such as Muslim pilot Omar Baig, undeterred in his dream of flight by the racial suspicion left over from Sept. 11.
Last week, Daily Egyptian readers learned about students abandoning their comfy dorms to sleep in makeshift cardboard tents to better understand homelessness. Though temperatures dropped below freezing, 30 students stuck it out all night in "Shanty Town."
Those from the religious student organization the Wesley Foundation and other students livlied up the homes of migrant farm workers at the Cobden migrant camp. The meager allowance provided by the state leaves little room for home improvements to the tiny, cement dwellings. Students' free labor often means that the families who live there for the season are guaranteed spring-cleaned apartments with fresh coats of paint.
Student activists are always busy in public affairs, such as Rob Taylor, who is lobbying to change the City Council election from at-large bids to a ward system. Taylor is also challenging the city's encroachment ordinance, which he believes infringes upon his and every other student's civil liberties.
Fraternity and sorority members are always participating by cleaning up highways, building homes for Habitat for Humanity or feeding the homeless through food drives.
Every semester, the Daily Egyptian reports on several outstanding students and faculty members who beat incredible odds to achieve incredible goals.
In nearly every paper, students and professors are seen sampling and creating culture. From art shows to making music to performance in plays, they make us cry, laugh, learn and better understand our world and appreciate it.
There's an old journalistic saying that goes, "If it bleeds, it leads." This is true for every paper in every community. Of course, it is our duty to let you know all the bad stuff going down, because citizens in a democracy cannot change things for the better if they do not know what is going on.
However, another less glamorous, but just as important function of the newspaper is to illuminate the good that is happening and to inform others of events they can attend to make the community stronger or their lives better.
We encourage all to experience the fulfillment that community service and volunteerism bring to your life as a student.
As you explore your own unique ways to bridge culture, reach out to your fellow human, achieve academic excellence and participate in government in your college years, be sure to let us know about it.
The Daily Egyptian is proud of what you do, and prouder still that we can report it to the community so that it too can share in that pride.
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
