Being objective with controversy

In the past two days, Indiana Daily Student editors have had their inboxes filled with complaints about our coverage.\nIn Monday's IDS, we ran a story at the top of the page about shots being fired at 14th Street and Indiana Avenue, and a police search for weapons outside the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, which occurred about an hour before the shooting.\nThe problem, as some of our readers view it, is by running a story about black students detained and handcuffed by the IU Police Department so prominently, we perpetuated a negative stereotype of the black community. We were also criticized for making it seem like the incident at 14th Street and Indiana Avenue was linked to the fight at the Alpha Phi Alpha party at the Indiana Memorial Union and the detainment in the parking lot. \nWhen I first saw the photos for this story, I knew the package as going to be controversial. The photos our photographer brought back to the newsroom depicted black students handcuffed, face-down on the ground with officers pointing firearms at them. We knew the issue of race was going to come up. There was no way to avoid it. Race is an issue that will always have the ability to make people upset, so we wanted to be very careful in covering this story.\nOur first decision: choosing what photo to print in the paper. Despite what some claim, we decided to not run any photos depicting those detained since they weren't charged with anything. We instead ran a photo of IUPD's response, which we felt conveyed the seriousness of the story without offending anyone.\nWhile writing this story, we wanted to make sure we had all the facts correct. We gathered all the information from IUPD and from witnesses and mapped it out on a board to check for inconsistencies. The big question we were left with: "Was there any connection between the two incidents?" IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said due to matching gun descriptions they were investigating this as if they were related. We made sure to cite all information to police reports and not quote it as fact.\nWe also made sure whenever we mentioned a suspect's race that it was necessary for the story. We even circled all instances where we used the word "black" and discussed whether it was necessary. We mentioned race when it had to do with the description IUPD was given, which was simply "black males."\nWhen editing the story, we made sure to have it read by people who initially knew nothing about the story. We wanted a reader's opinion about whether it was fair, clear and appropriate.\nWe made the decision to place it as the top story in the paper because it was legitimate big news. Shots are rarely fired on campus and there obviously was a discussion that needed to be had. It's unfortunate that negative news is sometimes the biggest news, but it's not a steadfast rule. We do not subscribe to "If it bleeds, it leads," but sometimes stories, such as "Police search for shooting suspects," are more timely than positive stories. We cannot ignore big news.\nIf you look back on our front pages during the past few years, the majority of our stories are positive and we've extensively covered diversity issues. Unfortunately, the negative stories always stick out in people's memories.\nSome complained we did not address the issue of IUPD's response, that it might have been excessive or racially motivated. What we think of the incident has no place in the news section of the newspaper. Instead, we chose to have the community speak for itself with an article in Tuesday's paper addressing the issue. In fact, we were 40 minutes late publishing Tuesday's edition of the paper because we wanted to be sure the story was as good as it could be. \nEvery name and quote in the story was cleared with those interviewed. We've made a consistent effort to try to reach anyone with complaints about our coverage or the IUPD's response, but few have wanted to tell their side of the story. We applaud those who have talked with us and encourage more people to e-mail me at aaasen@indiana.edu. You can also e-mail us at letters@indiana.edu to have your voice heard on the opinion page. We are a forum for your ideas and we will try to print as many different opinions as we can. We learn from being presented with opposite ideas.\nWe have made a consistent effort to reach out to our readers with this column and our weekly podcast every Friday afternoon, found on www.idsnews.com. If you ever have any questions about our coverage, never hesitate to contact us.