Parish
'Student' to Focus on Features, Debate
RECEIVED Thu., Aug. 19, 2004
Dear Editor,
As a newcomer to Austin, your paper has been very useful to me in planning my evenings and getting to know what the city offers, so I was very excited to hear that you were doing an article on our new newspaper ["New Rival for 'Daily Texas,'" News, Aug. 20]. However when I read the article, I thought it gave an unfair view of what we are doing here at The Austin Student. While technically correct with his facts the author chose to play down the fact that we are a more features-based, rather than political, publication, and instead made it sound as if we are a mouthpiece of the GOP with the description of our paper as the "new choice for this underserved legion of Bush-loving free thinkers."
The idea behind the newspaper that was not emphasized is that political news and issues of national interest are already old news by the time they hit print, especially in a weekly publication. The best that a weekly publication can do then is focus on human interest and feature stories and to provide an open forum for debate of any issues that are important to the readers.
The Austin Student plans to do this. We have a very diverse staff with very different ideas, lifestyles, and political views, and our editorial page will not be closed to liberal views, but neither will it be closed to conservative views. It is my conviction that the true beauty of the First Amendment is that even those we don't agree with still have a forum. We might not like what someone says, but at least then we know where they are coming from, we know what kinds of ideas are circulating and threatening ideas and institutions we hold dear, and we can then better prepare ourselves to counter those arguments we don't agree with.
I think this is the true spirit of The Austin Student, one of open debate for those interested in debate and interesting stories for those who couldn't care less, and not the "new choice ... of Bush-loving free thinkers" Mr. Brass characterized our publication as.
Other than this one small disagreement, I loved the current issue and will continue to look to the Chronicle for great entertainment news and compelling features as I learn the "ins" and "outs" of my new home.
As a newcomer to Austin, your paper has been very useful to me in planning my evenings and getting to know what the city offers, so I was very excited to hear that you were doing an article on our new newspaper ["New Rival for 'Daily Texas,'" News, Aug. 20]. However when I read the article, I thought it gave an unfair view of what we are doing here at The Austin Student. While technically correct with his facts the author chose to play down the fact that we are a more features-based, rather than political, publication, and instead made it sound as if we are a mouthpiece of the GOP with the description of our paper as the "new choice for this underserved legion of Bush-loving free thinkers."
The idea behind the newspaper that was not emphasized is that political news and issues of national interest are already old news by the time they hit print, especially in a weekly publication. The best that a weekly publication can do then is focus on human interest and feature stories and to provide an open forum for debate of any issues that are important to the readers.
The Austin Student plans to do this. We have a very diverse staff with very different ideas, lifestyles, and political views, and our editorial page will not be closed to liberal views, but neither will it be closed to conservative views. It is my conviction that the true beauty of the First Amendment is that even those we don't agree with still have a forum. We might not like what someone says, but at least then we know where they are coming from, we know what kinds of ideas are circulating and threatening ideas and institutions we hold dear, and we can then better prepare ourselves to counter those arguments we don't agree with.
I think this is the true spirit of The Austin Student, one of open debate for those interested in debate and interesting stories for those who couldn't care less, and not the "new choice ... of Bush-loving free thinkers" Mr. Brass characterized our publication as.
Other than this one small disagreement, I loved the current issue and will continue to look to the Chronicle for great entertainment news and compelling features as I learn the "ins" and "outs" of my new home.
Jeremy D. Wells
editor, The Austin Student
editor, The Austin Student
