Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies

The Miami Student’s response to the bomb threat showed a lack of initiative in writers

<p>Police are investigating swastikas and antisemitic posters found in the Miami University&#x27;s campus.</p>

Police are investigating swastikas and antisemitic posters found in the Miami University's campus.

I am an alumnus of the Student and of WMSR. I now am an employee of a well respected, national, news organization ... and although I work in sports, I still am routinely searching for stories in order to break news, and also gained hard news experience by assisting more seasoned reporters on coverage in Ferguson, and subsequently Shaw, Missouri. When someone won't answer my questions (particularly in a situation like Ferguson/Hughes Hall bomb threat), that is not an infringement of freedom of the press ... that means I am just not asking the right people, which is why the editorial on the bomb threats at Hughes Hall was so UTTERLY disappointing.

Yes, I trust the Miami Student to be able to deliver hard news about Miami and the Oxford community ... and with that trust comes the expectation that even if you are "wearing a backpack" you will act as professionals and seek out knowledgeable sources. If the MU Communications department won't answer your questions directly, then why have you not sought out a Freedom of Information Act request? What the editorial on the Hughes Hall bomb threats illustrates, perhaps most disappointingly, is a sincere lack of effort. According to your editorial, your reporter did not ask a police spokesperson for comment, but rather they went to a squad car and asked a law enforcement officer questions that they were probably completely unprepared to answer.

According to this editorial, the Miami Student has ZERO sources within OPD or MUPD and instead expects that information be delivered to them on a silver platter. This bomb threat was not the police beat, it was hard, breaking, news. The editors of this paper have NO right to complain about having their questions answered, especially when (from what you have told us) you have not asked the right people.

Ross Simon

Miami University

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