I was going to talk about something good for once.\nI was going to espouse compliments on the Indiana Daily Student; we've had a number of good stories lately. Pictures have been mostly in focus and relevant, and the informational graphics have hit the spot.\nOn Wednesday, however, the Opinion page got most of the attention.\nA fellow student actually brought the column "Black History Month is racist" to my attention while I was walking through the Indiana Memorial Union.\n"Hey George, have you seen this column?'\n"No-"\n"Man, you have to see this."\nI picked up the paper, read Warren Freiberg's column and realized that I was going to have to change my subject for today.\nIn a cruel twist, the column directly above it painted a not-so-pretty picture of Latino immigrants. Thursday, an e-mail from Latinos Unidos was already making its rounds.\nReally, this whole thing has shadows of the brouhaha that occurred two years ago. The offensive item and the supporting players have changed, but the issue remains the same -- racial perceptions are coming 'round the mountain again, full speed ahead.\nTwo years ago, the offending piece was a syndicated opinion comic. Wednesday, it was a locally produced column by an IDS staff member.\nThis presents the perfect opportunity to talk about three things -- freedom of speech, managerial conflict and institutional memory.\nDespite what many people might think, what the columnist wrote wasn't against IDS policy or any law whatsoever. Columnists, as espousers of opinion, can say whatever they want within the limits of the law -- namely, they can't libel anyone or incite anyone to violence, etc. The editor in chief is the final word on what goes in the IDS, but many people contribute to the decision along the way. The opinion editor can decide not to run it, a managing editor can overrule the opinion editor, and the editor in chief can overrule all of them. It's a little like the military chain of command, but with much more room for input on the lower levels than occurs in the armed forces. From what I understand of the situation, not everyone agreed the column should have run. Some people agreed with it in principle, but didn't like the tone. Others agreed wholeheartedly.\nYou, as a reader, are free to question the management's decisions. Thursday, the Jordan River Forum ran just a few of the comments we received Wednesday afternoon. I'm sure there will be more in the days to come. \nInstitutional memory is also a big part of this equation. Freiberg, as a sophomore, wasn't at IU two years ago when controversies sparked up about the Benton murals in Woodburn Hall and about the racially tinged opinion comic that appeared in the IDS.\nI was here, and I experienced both events firsthand. Free speech is important, but it gets harder and harder to justify it to people when the protectors of that speech -- news outlets -- seem to be abusing it. A recent Knight Foundation study discovered that 30 or more percent of high school students think the press should have to get government approval to print stories.\nWow.\nOpinions are like fire -- if you use them well, they can provide light and warmth, but abuse them and they spread, burn people and become hard to contain.\nWe have to start thinking before we speak. Having the right to do something doesn't make that thing right to do.
If you have any questions or concerns, e-mail the public editor at public-editor@idsnews.com
