Sex and unprofessionalism

I think we may have crossed a line. Scratch that. We jumped right over it.

The Spectrum printed, on the front cover, a giant portrait of two people engaging in sexual activity (although the models were clothed). It is blatantly obvious that this picture’s purpose is to portray a message of sex.

I have been told this picture is distasteful, verging on pornographic, awesome, hilarious and a range of other things.

My thoughts? We might have gone a bit too far. I was shown a different, worse picture that was originally going to be used. We decided to change that picture, but after I left, the new one was chosen and I was unable to voice an opinion.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m talking about the sex issue that The Spectrum printed on Monday November 9. And I was directly involved in putting this whole issue together. I knew about every single article in the paper. At the very least, my co-editor and I helped in some way, come up with almost every article that appeared in the sex issue. I did not by any means write all of them, but I was present in many meetings brainstorming ideas, who to contact and what angle should be taken.

The photo in question has caused much debate and even led to coverage on a local news channel. But more on that later.

I will say, I am proud of what we came up with. I am proud that almost every editor on the staff helped out, had fun and wrote some entertaining and informal pieces. I personally believe the issue was a large success and excessive focus has been given to the cover art.

This was a special sex issue – on a college campus. In this issue, we were not aiming to win Pulitzer prizes, write for children or worry about upsetting a few readers. Sex is a large issue and we were anticipating some negative and positive feedback. After all, journalism is designed to get people talking, whether it’s good or bad.

Despite my mild disagreement with the choice of the picture on the front page, I have stood behind the paper I work for. I have stood behind our editor in chief, the entire editorial staff and every article written.

What really gets to me about this entire issue were the choices of one of our own editors.

He strongly disagreed with the use of the picture on the front page and asked to have his name removed from the masthead. As I said earlier, we were expecting negative feedback, but not from our own staff.

Instead of keeping his opinions and concerns within the editorial staff, he took the issue to our faculty adviser and then far worse, appeared on a local news stations discussing his distaste with the sex issue and the decision of the other editors to run the picture.

After seeing this, I was astounded that a fellow editor and coworker would go on camera bashing the newspaper in which we both work. I found his decision to be both unprofessional and unnecessary.

If he thought the paper had made a mistake in printing the picture, his comments would have been far more valuable in the newsroom in which he spends most of his time and not on the airwaves of Buffalo media. Furthermore, if he was at all worried about the reputation of the paper at which he works, the should have never gone on camera and brought more light to the situation, which had at that point received no formal complaints from anyone outside the newsroom.

He has every right to disagree with the picture on the front page, and as an editor, I would hope that he wouldn’t be afraid to voice his opinion – but not in the way he did.

It’s important to point out that he was out of town for the making of the sex issue and was unable to participate on production day, but the issue had been planned for months – plenty of time for him to voice any concerns, which never happened.

I think, what he has done is inexcusable and hopefully the fallout will not reach too far and affect the paper too poorly.

A fellow editor should be setting an example for the rest of the staff and supporting the paper he works for, even during tough times. Not that everyone needs to think alike, but going to an outside media source and discussing ones distaste for the paper is just flat out not needed.

The Spectrum may have gone a bit too far in printing such an enormous picture of people having sex. To that, I will agree. But this has been a learning experience for all of us – a staff comprised entirely of student journalists. I know I have learned some great lessons out of this.

I just hope we all have.

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