Originally published October 2, 1998
by Adam Zurn

After working at The Snapper for a short amount of time, one of the first things you come to realize is that the phone never stops ringing.

We get a variety of calls: prospective advertisers, administrators returning messages, student reporters and editors playing phone tag, wrong numbers, requests, death threats, ideal promises, and charitable offers of help. Of all these different phone calls we receive, we have our favorites.

The call usually starts in one of two ways. Well, it tends to almost always be a voice message when it's this type of call. "I can't believe you [The Snapper] would run a story like that on Parents' Weekend (Homecoming, or any other big Public Relations event)."

The second type is very similar to the first, but it usually takes place before the story is run.

"I was hoping that you [The Snapper] could not run this story because it will put Millersville in a bad light."

We received complaints from the public when The Snapper ran a rape story on Parents' Weekend last year. The complaints were not because the story was done poorly. Rather the timing of the story's publishing date was questioned.

The caller suggested that we should have waited a week or not run the story at all. Two options that is unacceptable for a newspaper.

As recent as last week, The Snapper again received phone calls asking us not to run a certain sports story. The sincerity of the callers was never in question, but the fact remains: it was and continues to be news.

While these things might be construed as "shameful' or "hurtful" for the school's image and the persons involved, the reading public needs to remember that the only reason the paper exists-the only reason we students pour hours into this operation-is to report the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the Millersville University community. Period.

As with the rape story-or any other story for that matter-it is the job of the student paper to inform its reading public to the best of the paper's ability as to what is happening all over the campus. People not only want to know what's happening, but also some need to know.

So far this year we, as a staff, have endeavored to make the paper more reader friendly by shifting our focus entirely onto the shoulders of Millersville University.

True, some things may slip by our ever-watchful eyes, but we don't intentionally ignore any story, event or person. However, as we all know, we are imperfect creatures striving for a perfect, unbiased reflection of our little slice of the world.

Remember, too, that The Snapper is not a public relations vehicle for the University. We are your newspaper. We are your voice. We try to represent a collective personality of the community.

Sometimes we will run stories and uncover details of events that some people would rather not hear or know. When negative stories run, students and administrators often forget the positive stories that The Snapper also prints.

In the first issue of The Snapper this year, the news was reported as it always is. However, it happened to all be positive that week. The next weekend had some negative news such as the Amish Comic story and it happened to be Parents' Weekend. The Snapper prints the news as soon as possible.

The Snapper believes in reporting the news as it happens on campus. Even if our advisor or editor-in-chief was caught supplying alcohol to minors or something even worse, The Snapper would still run the story or at least publish it in the Police Briefs.

The Snapper attempts to supply the University with unbiased and uncensored news every week regardless of coinciding circumstances. That is how it needs to be.

The First Amendment to the Constitution is the freedom of speech and of the press. If you want The Snapper to only print good news (or propaganda as it's really known), or to censor negative news, then you might as well write your congressional representative.

The beauty of this newspaper and its freedom lies in the fact that we are a public university. In theory this means we are liberated from the tyranny of an administration sponsored media advisory board or, heaven forbid, the threat of censors dictating what we can and cannot print.

Understand, too, that stories that we print are never considered lightly. We check our facts as far possible, but there will be times when the information we have been given is, in fact, erroneous.

As students first and journalists second, we realize that pain, embarrassment, and even scorn can evolve from one simple utterance found in our pages.

Knowing also the possibility of our own misfortune landing in the headlines of this paper, we emphasize compassion and dignity when pursuing a story.

We will continue to publish Millersville's news, both good and bad. All we can ask from the public is to provide feedback.

Your suggestions, questions, and comments allow us to step back and detach ourselves from the pursuit of news and analyze our processes.