Ruffling a few feathers is okay

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Graphic by Lena Yang
Graphic by Lena Yang

When I started at The Cord in 2011 as a quiet sports writer, the first rule my editors taught me was ingrained in my mind.

Be impartial.

As a student at Wilfrid Laurier University, of course I wanted to support my school in any way I could. But as a journalist, you must be critical and analyze every move of the players and coaches. If they played shitty, you reported that they played shitty. Your job isnโ€™t to spin a positive story, and you sure as hell donโ€™t cheer for the team.

Five years later, after covering far too many regular season games, a few dozen playoff matches and three national championships, Iโ€™ve become critical beyond compare, wondering how each move will affect the team. Itโ€™s translated into my news reporting, analyzing the administration and Wilfrid Laurier University Studentsโ€™ Unionโ€™s plans, moves and words to be the best journalist I can.

Itโ€™s what weโ€™re taught: a good journalist has a critical eye.

But this doesnโ€™t seem to translate to all members of the journalism community. When Iโ€™m in press boxes, fellow student journalists are clapping, cheering on their respective schoolโ€™s football team as if theyโ€™re cheerleaders. There is no analyzing statistics or questioning the play the coach called โ€” rather, itโ€™s mumbling under their breath, โ€œgo team go.โ€

Iโ€™m all for being supportive of your school. Of course Iโ€™m happy when Laurierโ€™s teams make it far. Not only is it great coverage, but itโ€™s fun and exciting to see such an exhilarating moment impact the culture of a university.

But as a student journalist hoping to make it in this industry, itโ€™s hard to watch other student journalists act as part-time cheerleaders and donโ€™t at least ruffle the feathers of their schoolโ€™s public relations department.

Good journalism, regardless ofย  whether itโ€™s at the student or professional level, starts with good, objective coverage. Considering both sides is necessary so that bias doesnโ€™t impact the readerโ€™s experience. Regardless of whether you are writing about sports, news, arts or health, objectivity is the main component of journalism. Donโ€™t be afraid to be critical of what youโ€™re covering. It makes your work stand out and gives you an opportunity to look beyond the โ€œra ra teamโ€ that surrounds you every day.

Besides, no one respects a writer without a spine.


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Serving the Waterloo campus, The Cord seeks to provide students with relevant, up to date stories. Weโ€™re always interested in having more volunteer writers, photographers and graphic designers.