Monday, September 22, 2008
The University Daily Kansan operates independently from the University. The only people who review our content before it goes to print are our student editors — no faculty members or anyone else. But with this freedom comes a responsibility to our readers, and that’s why I’d like to respond to some concerns from our audience.
The Kansan and the University have heard from several people who objected to the photo on the cover of the “Sex on the Hill” section released Thursday. They objected not just to the sexual nature of the photo, but to the location of the photo: the top of the Campanile, a memorial to the 277 KU students, faculty and staff who died in World War II. These people thought the photo had defaced the Campanile and insulted what it stood for.
These objections took us at The Kansan somewhat by surprise, because none of us had considered before the section’s publication that the Campanile was a World War II memorial. Someone certainly should have raised that point during our planning, and for that ignorance on our part, I apologize. The Kansan certainly had no intent to insult those who gave their lives for our country.
But our failure to consider the Campanile’s significance illustrates that most students probably view the Campanile as a campus monument and a part of graduation-day tradition, but not as the war memorial it’s meant to be. Thus, few students probably thought about the Campanile’s purpose when they saw the photo Thursday.
Also important to this issue are The Kansan news staff’s goals in producing the “Sex on the Hill” section. Our goal was not to sensationalize, to offend people or to encourage anyone to go to the top of the Campanile or Fraser Hall — please, please don’t. Instead, we hoped to portray sex as what it is — a major topic in the lives of many students, and as much a part of those students’ lives at KU as classes, sporting events or the buildings they pass by every day on campus. The Kansan certainly didn’t aim to deface or disrespect the Campanile or any other campus location.
But people reading the paper and looking at the photos didn’t see our intentions; they saw only the results. This means we have to think about our content not just from our own perspective, but from the vast and varied perspectives of our audience. This incident has helped us learn that lesson.
We here at The Kansan are students, just like the thousands of others at the University, learning as we go. Like those other students, we make mistakes — but our mistakes are printed out and distributed for thousands of people to see.
So we at The Kansan promise to learn from this and from our other experiences, and to do a better job of keeping our readers in mind in every decision we make.
If you have an opinion about the cover photo or anything else in the “Sex on the Hill” section, please let us know about it. Send a letter to the editor to opinion@kansan.com, or just send me an e-mail at merickson@kansan.com to let us know what you think. The best way for us at The Kansan to learn and improve is to hear what our readers think.
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Comments
Letter from the Editor
Are you freaking kidding me!? How can you not know that is a memorial for the WWII vets!? What's next, you aren't aware thatwe have a memorial for Vietnam? Grow up and quit trying to push the f-ing envelope so much!
Letter from the Editor
Pretty lame excuse...I have a hard time believing that most students aren't aware that this is a WWII memorial. Show some respect.
Letter from the Editor
My gosh people, stop being so SENSITIVE.
Letter from the Editor
It's not being sensitive, it's being responsible.
Nice letter though, Matt. Glad to hear the UDK is receptive to the concerns.
Letter from the Editor
"Oh, I'm sorry, we at the UDK failed to realize that this landmark monument was a WWII memorial. As our models and camera crew walked through the bottom of the monument, we overlooked all the inscribed names of the many from KU who died to defend our freedoms during an incredibly trying time in US history. It's OK though, I'm sure just about every other student on campus is as ignorant as we are, and given the collective ignorance, we probably didn't offend anyone." If you want to see the photos in question, you can still find it archived right here on this website. Apparently the paper's poor planning isn't enough of a problem to remove the photos, but then again, who's really offended?
Letter from the Editor
I was a KU student for 4 years, and I always knew that the campanile was a WWII memorial. Who doesn't know that? And how does the Kansan editorial department not know that? Especially the editors. "...none of us had considered before the section’s publication that the Campanile was a World War II memorial." That's just poor judgment and bad journalism. It's one thing to push the envelope, like the Kansan does each time Sex on the Hill is published. But it's a whole different story when the Kansan is trying to be racy, and it ends up looking like bad porn with unattractive people. On top of that, it was all done on the most recognized monument on KU's campus.
"This means we have to think about our content not just from our own perspective, but from the vast and varied perspectives of our audience. This incident has helped us learn that lesson." As a news writer and editor, you should know that you aren't writing for yourself. You are writing for your readers. Isn't this taught in J101? Did you think you were just putting out thousands of copies of the Kansan for the fun of it?
Don't pull the "We're inexperienced and didn't know" card, Mr. Erickson. It just makes your credibility go even farther down the drain.
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