These two letters, written by State Press Opinions Editor Jed Dougherty and State Press Editor-in-chief Kristi Eaton, are in response to Thursday's "Tell it like it is" question, "What's your favorite sex position."
Dear Readers,
As the editor of the opinions page, I am always looking for ways to engage you on a personal level. I want you to come away from reading this page with questions on your mind and sometimes a smile on your face.
However, Thursday I went too far. In an effort to garner your attention, I broke lines of decency that should not have been crossed. I chose to run a feature on the opinions page "Tell it like it is," which asked six students the question "What's your favorite sexual position?" This simply isn't an acceptable or relevant question to be asking. It has no place in my section, and I should have used better judgment when deciding which question to ask.
I am sorry to those I have offended, and in the future I promise to think more before forcing whatever cockamamie scheme comes into my head upon you.
While we, as journalists, have the First Amendment to back us up, we also have the responsibility to keep the trust of our readers by not insulting their intelligence with vulgar trivialities. Once again I am sorry.
Sincerely,
Jed Dougherty
Opinions Editor
To the campus community,
I dropped the ball Thursday. As editor-in-chief, I am ultimately responsible for every story that appears in The State Press.
Although each individual editor decides on the content of his or her section, I have the final say on what appears in the paper. I did not do my job Wednesday night. I let something go to print that I was not 100 percent comfortable with.
The question, "What's your favorite sex position?" that ran in Thursday's opinions section was inappropriate and offensive. While the topic of sex is an important one for the college community, our piece did not add anything to the discussion.
This apology did not stem from negative feedback (although we received some) but from my personal reflection on the matter.
I want to assure readers I will make a greater effort to evaluate each day's content before it appears in print.
Thank you.
Kristi Eaton
Editor-in–chief
