Root, root, root for the home team

The Indiana Daily Student has devoted much space and ink during the last few weeks to this season's IU football program. We have had front page stories, large photographs, numerous "see inside" promotions and our 2005 Fall Sports Guide, all devoted to the Hoosier gridiron. \nDoes all this coverage mean we're trying to turn coach Hep into coach Hype? Are we sacrificing our objectivity and root-root-rooting for the home team by placing football stories so prominently on our pages?\nNot at all. \nAs editors, we must make unenviable judgment calls regarding the placement of any story. The decision is not always easy. We don't always have the material we'd like to have. To help guide us, we ask ourselves some basic questions: What is the big news our audience will want to read? What is the news our audience will be talking about? What is the news our audience needs?\nUndoubtedly, the fallout of Hurricane Katrina has been the largest news story since classes began and we have followed it on nearly every level. We've devoted energy to the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist and the confirmation hearings of John Roberts, the IU board of trustees' new members, the IU Student Association's goals, the beginning of IU President Adam Herbert's third year, and we've barely touched the iceberg on an emerging debate to raise admissions standards. \nI think it is important to stress that much of the big local news this school year has been about our football program. IU has a new head coach, again, whose face is plastered all over Bloomington. The athletics department is attempting to instate a new regulatory policy for tailgating outside Memorial Stadium. We're 2-0 after two games. And let's not forget, we are a newspaper of students, for students and about students, and IU's athletes are students, too.\nSome would argue the IDS is overexposing the team, but if you look at most major papers, you'll see sports on the front page all the time, especially in college towns. Look at papers in Ann Arbor, Mich., Champaign-Urbana, Ill., or Bloomington's hometown paper, and you'll see sports played up for the readers. We strive to give readers both what they want and what they need. The board of trustees might be what students need to read, but they'd rather check out a story about who won the game during the weekend.\nBy including sports on our front page when appropriate, we don't aim to be lowbrow. We push our sports reporters to write outside of exhaustive clichés and traditional fare. We hold them to the same high standards of objectivity as any of our reporters, and they play within our company ethics policy. Reporters never cheer at the games or go on public record with any opinions on the team which might compromise their objectivity. We provide sports columnists for the explicit reason of differentiating opinions from news.\nSince we should be reflecting our audience, the student newspaper should be a fan of the team. Fans talk about the game, both positively and critically. Right now, it's too early to be critical of the football team, but we won't shy away from it if we must. We want to be a paper that spurs student conversations. Right now, it seems like people are talking about coach Hep, and we'll keep giving you more to talk about.