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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
OUR OPINION
Media should stick to facts in reporting
It is not uncommon for people or a community to want an immediate response to a recent calamity or misfortune. Entities such as the media can cultivate these responses for the greater good but can also have the opposite effect.
For the past few weeks, the Lawrence Journal-World has had constant coverage of the fatal shooting that occurred on Massachusetts Street on Feb 5. The Journal-World was right to report the event and its investigation, as it would be right for any paper to report on criminal investigations. The problem, however, is the other coverage the paper published in regard to the shooting.
The Journal-World's related coverage on downtown safety and gun possession has done more to worry the community than it has to provide guidance or insight. At the time this editorial was written, there hadn't been any coverage of the investigation itself since Feb. 8, yet there have been several articles linked to that coverage since then on the paper's Web site, lfworld.com, including online video footage.
Issue: Sensasionalism in the media
Stance: The Lawrence Journal-World should not instill fear.
The shooting and subsequent death of a bystander and father was a tragedy and is worthy of the media's attention. What the Journal-World has done is played
off of people's fears and insecurities. The Journal-World has given the impression that Lawrence will soon be host to such shootings on a more regular basis — and that these shootings are a result of urban culture — and it has questioned the security of downtown and attacked the late hours of its bars as a cause of the shooting. All of these accusations have been made when the status of the criminal investigation is unknown, when no motive has been established, no suspects acknowledged.
Such actions are a detriment to the community and reflect poorly on the intentions of the Journal-World. Newspapers should not be in the business of milking insecurity from its readership. The Journal-World needs to be more concerned with covering verifiable connections to such events and stop using them as a means to an end.
Ty Beaver for the editorial board
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Respect SafeRide
SafeRide is a service that students at the University of Kansas can be proud about. SafeRide is a student-funded, student-run initiative that ensures students get home safely.
A successful pick-up happens when the student is then at the location at the time that dispatcher has told them and they get a free ride home. At times, successful rides haven't happened as often as KU on Wheels would like. The common problem SafeRide deals with is no shows by the students. This occurs when students who scheduled a pick-up are nowhere
to be found when the driver gets there. This is a problem because if a driver is waiting for a student who is not going to show up they have just wasted the time that could have been spent picking up another student who might want to use the SafeRide program.
The Transportation Board would like to ask students that call and get a pick up time to watch for SafeRide and be ready to take the ride that they scheduled.
Jessica Mortinger Transportation coordinator
COMMENTARY
U.S. success in Iraq depends on credibility
Iraq is quite the conundrum. Every American you talk to will give you a different reason we are there, what our goals are and when it will all be finished. There are no easy answers to the questions "Why are we in Iraq?" and "What are our government's motives for this war?" but one thing is true: We are there. And if the United States ever wants to pull troops out of the region we are going to have to convince the international community and the Iraqi people that our goal is to leave the region safer than it was before.
One step is to take a stronger position against torture. Needless torture of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib has undermined the U.S. position as a friend to the Iraqi people. In 2003, the New Yorker obtained a Government report calling the torture at Abu Ghraib "sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses."
In order to be successful, the United States must be viewed by the world as a legitimate peace-keeping democracy.
LIZ STUEWE
opinion@hansan.com
In order to be successful, the United States must be viewed by the world as a legitimate peace-keeping democracy.
Instead the use of torture in the military is reminiscent of a violent dictatorship. We need to be clear that we don't support this kind of violence. The insurgencies will never end unless the United States unmistakably distances itself from practices
— such as torture — mimicking the regime we overthrew.
Should we censor unfavorable stories about the United States military to help improve our reputation in Iraq? Absolutely not. We must be as transparent as possible with regard
to our government and military in order to win back the Iraqi people's trust.
Torture hurts everyone. The torture scandals have made it even harder for U.S. troops to establish any sort of peace in Iraq. I don't agree with President Bush's decision to use military force in Iraq. But honestly, that isn't the issue anymore. We are there. The best possible outcome I can imagine in this situation is the United States leaving Iraq a quasi-strict government with as little bloodshed as possible. Ultimately, the United States must be viewed as a legitimate Democracy in order to create any form of stability in Iraq.
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Obviously, this alone is not enough. There are many things the United States needs to do militarily,economically and socially in Iraq before we can leave. But we must start now because we have a long road ahead.
$\diamond$ Steuwe is a Lawrence sophomore in political science and American studies.
Free for All
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
Hey Free-for-All, I just got a question for you. Do you think Jim Wooldridge, when he's talking to his players before a game against KU, goes, "Nobody, and I mean
+
To whoever Terry H. is, Steven Colbert just said you are the man on TV. That's right, you are the man, Terry H.
nobody, comes into our house and beats us 33 times in a row"
Free-for-All, what's up with people just calling in and regurgitating stuff they've seen
on the Internet? People need to be more original.
To the guy with the pink Powerpuff Girl backpack, you are my idol.
Driving through campus, a guy in a Parking Department truck just blew
Department truck just blow through a stop sign and flipped me off while he did it when I calmly raised my arms to ask him why he ran through the stop sign. That doesn't do the University
I don't think it's any coincidence that all you must do is add U to the initials for Dave Matthews Band to spell "dumb"
The Kiosk 34 is the best lover you've never had.
Dear Julian Wright, please grow a huge afro and a full beard.
I'd like to know why the
very well does it?
Kansan headline writers are so obsessed with alliteration. Seriously, just wondering.
If you type in "Wikipedia" in the Wikipedia search box will the world explode? Do you have any barbecue chips?
To the guy in the red hair screaming "boo" at Baylor right now: Why? Their program sucks already.
Hey Free-for-All, an airsoft bee beej just fall out of my friend's eyeball.
Did anyone else notice that the words to the Alma Mater are wrong on the video board at the men's basketball game.
Better we upgrade. Nothing good comes from
Missouri.
To the students who didn't show up to the Baylor game, your thoughts shouldn't be "Oh, it's just Baylor." Your thoughts should be "Crap, it's KU! They're 16th!"
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Yeah, this is to whoever called in about the Winter Olympics, Sudoku and Grey's Anatomy. If you're a female and single, I'm pretty sure you're my soul mate. Please call back, we have to meet.
So I love the KU Jayhawks and all, but can we please get the parking and getting out of the freaking parking lots fixed so we can all go back to our dorms without having to go around 20 million different ways. This is ridiculous.
Oh man, you ever call the Free-for-All and have absolutely no idea what you're going to say? Hey kitty.
I just watched the entire first season of Grey's Anatomy in one night. It's making me fail college.
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I'm sitting here reading the opinion columns, and am I really seeing someone complain about George Bush actually helping middle class white people more than anyone else? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
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Dear Free-for-All, if I was on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? you would be my phone-a-friend, because you are my best friend. Good bye. You are the weakest link. Good bye!
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Wait, that Who Wants to be a Millionaire? line—that wasn't very funny. I'm not that cool sober. Sorry, Free-for All. Bye.
*
OK, that girl who just called in about the Millionaire line—yeah, she's my roommate, and she really is not that cool unless she's drunk. Just want to put that out there.
My friend is walking with the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. Do you think she's a lesbian? Because I think she is.
CARTOON DEBATE
Below are some comments from kansen com readers regarding the current controversy concerning the Danish cartoons that prompted negative reactions around the globe:
(Editor's note: The comments below appear unedited and unaffected. These comments do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The University Dr. Kansen.)
Daily Kansan.)
better than that.
It seems we still have awhile to go on our free speech. Almost every media outlet in the West allowed terror to stop that right. You can view the cartoons on my website at abber.com. Check out the documentary I put together. You cannot explain this whole situation any
It is pathetic that we should bow to forign powers who wish to stifel our free speech, if catholics can tolerate the virgin being smeared in feces and offered up as art, how is it that your religion is so intolerant that it feels it has the right to abridge
free speach?
↳
Since when was the right to free speech
trumped by the right not to be offended or have one's feelings hurt? Islam is an interesting religion, but it - like any other religion - should be open to examination and be held to the same standards to which other world religions are held.
indnesday, Feb 2nd
7:30pm for an informative lecture on this issue.
for more information on muhammad(pbuh) please visit : http://www.islamway.com/mohammad/ for more information and questions on the cartoon controversy please visit Regnell Hall auditorium, KU edwards campus on thursday, Feb 23rd @ 7:00am
There is nothing such as absolute freedom. Well, actually there is, but it is called chaos. That is one extreme of a scale that has oppression on its other extreme. Freedom is a region some place in the middle of that scale. And it is the responsibility of a country or a society to clearly define that region to properly fit the goals that it set out to
The US Supreme Court stated that satire (even outrageous satire) has a long and important history in America and that the Founding Fathers had specifically intended for the First Amendment to protect these types of parodies. The court cited many examples of famous, if bitingly satirical, political cartoons, "from the early cartoon portraying George Washington as an ass down to the press
ent day.
Why is it that the posters on this thread that are concerned about the cartoons haven't expressed any amount of concern over the 50+ people - mostly Muslims - killed in the demonstrations thus far? Are the
tions thus far? Are the cartoons more important
than 50 lives?
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884-6524 or jahad@kansan.com
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864-4924 or press@kansan.com
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864-4462 or adirector@kansan.com
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864-7087 or mollison@kansan.com
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