angleofattack
10/07/11
A student newspaper’s full-page apology: In 2008, the Northern Illinois University campus struggled mightily after a deadly shooting on campus killed six (including the gunman) and injured 21. The entire campus stayed strong after the shooting, but three years later, they’ve suffered a setback, in the form of a crudely-drawn editorial cartoon in the Northern Star, the school’s student newspaper. The drawing seems to make light of the incident. The result? This cover, a full-page apology that published yesterday. “We know you’re angry,” the editorial board wrote. “We know you’re hurt. We know we messed up, and we feel awful about it.” Is that enough of an apology? Do we need to give student journalists still learning the craft a break? Would love to know your thoughts. (thanks Charles Apple)
I was about to head into the engineering building, a couple blocks away from Cole Hall, when a friend and classmate rode up on his bike. He had a strange look on his face and could hardly catch his breath. He managed to get out, “I just heard like 20 gunshots near Cole Hall.” Of course I thought he was kidding. A few moments later we heard the sirens. Lots of sirens.
I went inside the engineering building and down to the computer room, where I submitted what little I knew at the time to Fark (this was before twitter beat everyone on breaking news). Shortly after that they put us all on lock down. I only lived a few blocks away from the engineering building and managed to sneak out and head home. The sky was full of helicopters. My cell phone was going apeshit with friends and family checking in.
I lost a friend that day, Julianna Gehant. She was a veteran, that’s how I knew her, through the Veteran’s Club. She was a kind person who had served her country honorably. Most of all, she was innocent, and undeserving of such a disgusting cruelty. The day after the shooting my fellow veterans and I held a memorial for her at the flag pole, where we added a plaque in her memory.
So yeah, alma mater, your bad. This shit isn’t hip, it isn’t edgy, and it isn’t cool. Everyone who had a hand in this colossally insensitive fuck up should take some time to remember that these were real people with family and friends who will never get to see them again. They were also, you know, students of NIU, for whom you exist to inform and entertain. This cartoon did neither.
Photo posted at 16:45
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owenshill reblogged this from shortformblog and added:
post for my fellow crisis comm’ers. You can read the background of the full page apology on the front of
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thomasseymat reblogged this from briancolligan and added:
The cartoon is visible here.
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shortformblog reblogged this from angleofattack and added:
Very striking. Definitely read...whole post — it really brought
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angleofattack reblogged this from shortformblog and added:
I was about to head into...engineering building,...couple...
thom-fountain said:
I’m a student journo and can see that was a mistake. In some cases you can play the ‘students are young so this is a learning experience’ but eventually you need to realize these are adults putting out a real publication that real people are reading.
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sonicbloom11 reblogged this from shortformblog and added:
At the time of the shooting, I was an editor at a school newspaper just 65 miles from NIU.
briancolligan reblogged this from shortformblog and added:
news editor at the Collegiate Times, the student-run...newspaper at Virginia Tech, long...
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What role do you think...advisor could have played...this...
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