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Thursday. April 15, 1999 - Page 6 COMMENTARY ~taff Do you know about the To criticize Editors-In-Chief MeganMartin'OI crisis in Kosovo? is easy Emily Starnathis '00 Managing Editor Laura Kelley '01 Kristen G. Fraser Megan Martin takes a look at News Editors lamentsAmerican ignorance It is doubtful that many people could even what criticism means to thJl Erin Howard '00 concerning international events. identify all of the countries in Europe, much Phoenix. Jenifer Sirkis '01 less be appraised of such situations. The people are not entirely to blame. The "Look at that, they spelled his name Features Editor Sarah Radice'OI Kosovo is the regional name that com- media chooses what to print, for sometimes wrong again," someone sighs in disgust. mands the attention of our nation, media, and' unethical reasons. "The Phoenix never writes anything posi- Assistant Features Editor world. There is no doubt that this region is Rich Simmons '99 if news does not directly sensationalize tive about my organization." on the minds of all American people. And or catch the eye of many readers, then it is "The Phoenix never writes anything Commentary Editor that includes college students as well. often deemed uninteresting. negative about that club." Kristen G. Fraser '00 But, with all of the information available, As a result, the American people remain "Why are your pictures so dark, and did Assistant Commentary Editor it would be expected that every American uninformed. The first day of the bombing, you notice you spelled 'students' wrong?" Lisa Dale-Van Auken '02 citizen would be aware of the crisis, or at W JZ Channel [3 news talked to several These are just some of the things editors least knowledgeable of the fact that the cri- Sports Editor people on the street, getting their opinion and staff of the Phoenix hear after an issue MikeYeslramski'OI about the bombing. comes out. Numerous people complain, but What followed was a stream of rushed no one ever steps in to help out. Assistant Sports Editor .College students, and Matthew Thomas '0 I judgments based on five minutes of knowl- As I [earned at a media conference spon- many other American edge. sored by WMC's Society for Collegiate Jour- Art Editor/ArchivistlLayout Now, ignorance itself is not a bag thing. Michael Puskar '99 people, were clueless But, if people watched these citizens nahsrs, however, the Phoenix is not alone. Did we forget a sport? Sports isn't Photographers speaking about a topic which they knew only section under-staffed, meaning you have the Trang Dam 'OQ about this war. RohynHili '02 nothing about, they would walk away per- a chance to see your story in print. But only haps accepting the view of the speakers. if you write one. Hu~:~in ~rr::I~~~'02 sis was impending. While this is not the end of the world, it Think we don't give fair coverage to your This is not the case. is not a good idea to propagate false ideas. Staff Writers f1 organization? Let us know when your orga- Claire Adams '02 College students, and many other Ameri- Perhaps this is simply worry over another nization is up to. We don't always know ev- Anne Butler '01 can people, were clueless about this war. erything that goes on around campus. We'll Sophie Boulet Ben Dccker"oo The information about the ethnic Alba- send someone out to cover the event or ask Julie Develin '01 nians, KLA, and refugee countries is all cru- Before President Clinton . you to write something. But only if you let Shauna Dominguez '02 cial to understanding these current events. Kate Esposito '01 started the air attacks in us know about it. Joan Faulkner '02 But, before President Clinton started the Do you question the quality of the paper Shannon Hess '02 air attacks in conjunction with NATO, there conjunction with NATO, in regards to typos and other errors? We cer- Mike Jenkinson Brooke Joseph '02 was hardly a whisper about this topic. there was hardly a tainly hope you don't, but an extra set of eyes Mollie Land '02 The negative actions that happened as a proofreading the copy always helps. Butonly Ron Mojica '02 result of this are devastating. Americans have whisper about the topic if you want to learn what it's like to work on Cathy Pendorf '02 Francesca Saylor '00 become frightened over the possible use of [about the injustice in the paper. Shawn Sprague '01 American military troops overseas. Sometimes it is easier to criticize. Work- Michael Stokes '00 And, it was not uncommon to see on the ing on the paper is tough. Layout for the pa- Chris Taugher '02 refugee countries.) Emily Wilson '02 news or in everyday conversations the reac- per usually lasts four days. This past layout TedWitiak'02 tion of complete surprise by many citizens. weekend, our editorial staff logged in over Kevin Worley '00 This surprise is not a new phenomenon. Vietnam War. That horrible war was marked Raini Wright '00 80 hours working to put out this issue. Newspapers are filled daily with events of by a huge amount of misinformation and That doesn't include the weekly meetings Distribution the world, explaining the global situation of confusion. we have that can last as long as an hour. Nor Rich Suchcski '00 our times. Anything to avoid that scenario again does it include collecting story ideas, assign- Subscriptions But, the average person pays no heed. It would be beneficial to everyone. ing stories, doing interviews, and research- Anne Butler '01 takes strong military action to receive any This is not really any way to change this ing articles. That's not to forget the actual kind of interest. situation. Just hope for the best, and hope Graduate Assistant writing of the stories by staff members. Vince Chesney But, that does not mean that the problem that leaders of NATO will make wise deci- When you do the math, Phoenix staff does not exist. sions. Adviser members and editors work a total of 10 hours Terry Dalton For the Kosovo incident, many prominent For if the decisions are [eft up to the un- a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. newspapers followed the events leading up informed American people, the result will be We are also all students. We have classes, to ,the bombing.j unimaginable. ThePhoenixispubii~tiedblweekry. ~ , significant others, jobs, and other organiza- opinions expressed do not necessarily rep- tions in which we work. While some of us get academic credit through the independent resent those of The Phoenix staff, the fac- study program to work on the Phoenix, not ulty, or the administrators ofWMC. all of us do, and none of us get paid a cent. Yet we are here doing. the work. We work The paper welcomes free-lU?cesubrnis- sionson Macintosh disks in most "Yordpro- to the best of aur abilities to put out a paper cessorformats. The editor reserves the right that is interesting, professional, and informa- to edit for clarity, length, and libel and to tive. If we slip, and it does happens, it is be- publish as space permits. All submissions cause we are students, and we are [earning. (excluding self-addressed diskenes) become Despite all the hard work, there are re- the property of The Phoenix and cannot be wards. We get recognition on campus and remmed off for some of our work; the Phoenix was a Please include a name and phone num- nationally honored college newspaper last berforverification. Names will be withheld year. We get to see our names and our ideas only by the discretion of the Editors-in-Chef in print. We have something tangible to look back upon and say, "I did that." \ TIle Phoellixdoes not discriminate based It's discouraging to realize that our col- on age, race, religion, gender, sexual orien- lective hard work is overlooked for techni- tarion, national origin, condition of handi- cal problems, for a few proofreading over- cap, or marital status. sights, of for an event we missed because no one told us about it. Mail to: If you are going to criticize, either make The Phoenix your criticism constructive or do something WMC, 2 College Hill to help solve the problem. I would [ike to invite those In short, Westminster, MD 21 [57 you who criticize to join the Phoenix and of (410)751-8600 FAle (410) 857-2729 work with us for a semester. Then you will E-Mail: phoenix@wmdc.edu understand.