Photo from the Fresno State student newspaper The Collegian editorial on Donald Trump
February 23, 2016 - By Fresno State Communications - The Fresno State student newspaper The Collegian is a student-financed, student-run publication that serves Fresno State students but does not represent the views of the University.
The newspaper is a learning laboratory for students who aspire to media careers. It provides them the opportunity to learn about the role of the free press and practice at writing a wide range of material – including news stories, features and editorials.
A “clarifying statement” issued by The Collegian may help readers understand why the student staff chose to publish a front-page editorial photo and a Page 2 editorial on presidential candidate Donald Trump.
We understand that not all readers will agree with The Collegian editorial, just as viewpoints differ about opinion pieces in other publications.
Clarifying Statement:
This morning, The Collegian published an editorial about Donald Trump.
The piece, in no uncertain terms, compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. The article was labeled as an editorial, which is an opinion piece — not a news story.
It is important to stress that The Collegian, a student-run publication, isn’t subject to prior review. No faculty or staff members read the article before it was published — as it should be. It does not represent the views of Fresno State.
The article was riddled with hyperbole. This was intentional.
Although the words were inflammatory, we fully understand that not every person who supports Trump is a murderer, or any in actuality.
But there are extremists out there that will take Trump’s sentiment to a level higher than even he wants. Trump, though, is capitalizing on the racial tension for votes.
He has said that he could “shoot somebody and” he wouldn’t lose voters. This is not OK.
The Collegian isn’t even the trend setter on this topic. Other outlets have made the same commentary on Trump that we have.
Donald Trump wouldn’t back down, and neither will we.
However, the media frenzy over this editorial seems to dismiss the fact that an editorial is an opinion piece. The traffic caused our site to go down more than once.
Yes, it’s on the front page — but was done for a reason.
The Collegian chose to run its front page as a message of hyperbole.
Students are disengaged. Had we run this on the inside of our issue, so many people would never have read what we find to be a pertinent and necessary discussion on the current political climate that exists in our nation.
It is in our opinion that a forum needs to be created in order to engage local readers about what we believe is a very real threat to the American way of life.
We successfully created a forum.
Students all over campus are engaging in politics in a way they never have before, and those are the people we care about. The community at large has begun speaking about the pliability of a president who has made such poor linguistic choices — that he has warranted the comparison to Adolf Hitler.
We stand once again and ask that you do your part and keep talking about the reality of this election — which could be the difference between warfare and prosperity.
Remember, the First Amendment ensures everyone’s right to freedom of speech.
The Collegian welcomes verbal criticism and always solicits comments via letters to the editor — of which we run both positive and negative.
Source: Fresno State student newspaper, The Collegian
