The Daily Campus apologizes for reporter’s conduct

The Daily Campus was put in a difficult situation on Friday when one of our campus correspondents voiced opposition to the restoration of UConnPIRG’s student fee while he was reporting on the organization’s hearing. Before stating his opinion, he announced himself as a writer for the newspaper.

UConnPIRG lost their $5 student fee and tier III status at the end of the 2011-2012 academic year after concerns were raised about how their money was spent.

As a journalist covering the proceedings, our writer should not have shared his thoughts at that moment. Reporters are meant to remain as objective as possible while reporting so they can fairly gather facts and tell readers a story. By speaking out at the hearing, he made himself part of the story.

We believe that the newspaper would not be able to cover UConnPIRG, or their petition for a fee restoration, in the future without first addressing this situation. Although the student did not claim to speak for the newspaper, we think it could be misconstrued because he was at the hearing working on our behalf. The Daily Campus does not have an opinion on UConnPIRG’s application for a student fee.

The newspaper is a place for students to learn how to be journalists. Mistakes are common, and those who make them should not be unfairly chastised. We have handled the situation internally to help the student learn from it and avoid repeating it.

We apologize for our campus correspondent’s conduct at the fee restoration hearing for UConnPIRG. We strive to remain fair and balanced in all of our reporting and will continue in our mission to provide objective news to the UConn community.