The work of journalists is always scrutinized when sensitive matters are published. In recent weeks, both CNN and Fox News faced harsh backlash. There is a fine line between abiding by the public’s right to know and respecting the privacy of others. Journalists always have to ask the tough questions when it comes to publishing material that is emotional, graphic, and potentially disrespectful toward the privacy of others.

Last week, CNN published information found in the private journal of slain ambassador J. Christopher Stevens against the wishes of his family. The contents of the journal provided information about the rising violence and unrest in the Middle East. News anchor Anderson Cooper referenced the journal as an outside source on his show, Anderson Cooper 360, as an inside source to the inner thoughts of the former ambassador. The journal provided a glimpse into Stevens’ perspectives on issues such as the rising tide of Islamic extremism and the growing threat of Al-Qaeda in the Middle East. It was only after the segment aired that other news sources reported that CNN published the contents of the journal against the family’s wishes. The resulting backlash from the family and the State Department was countered by a strong statement from CNN that detailed the public’s right to know and questioned why the State Department was now “attacking the messenger.”

Journalists are emotional beings; after all, they are human. Their job requires them to detach their feelings from highly emotional situations to report objectively. What readers don’t see, however, is the process behind this detachment. In any case of sensitive material, everything is carefully considered before publication. To a journalist, the published material must tell the truth and inform. CNN firmly believed this and used this reasoning to justify that the public had a right to know about the issues brought up in the journal. Out of respect for the family, CNN refrained from publishing direct quotes.

Every time a journalist publishes a photo or an article or airs a story, he or she always reflects deeply on what publishing the piece will accomplish. If CNN had published the journal entries of Ambassador Stevens without asking this question first, it would have been wrong. The situation may have been tough, but CNN took all the appropriate measures to report on newsworthy material while maintaining Stevens’ privacy. The journalists on the field at the time believed the entries—as highly sensitive as they were—would shed light on the events that occurred and give viewers a more educated and informed view. The journal’s contents also brought up points that questioned actions prior to the events and warned the public. Though the decision to publish this information may have been difficult, CNN made the right choice.

Fox News found itself in a similar situation when a long car chase that one of its local affiliates was covering ended with the suspect committing suicide on live air. To prevent errors like this one, Fox News delays breaking news by five seconds so those monitoring the video can stop the airing in the case of an extreme situation. It was an unfortunate mistake that Fox immediately apologized for. In this case, the airing provided no real news to the public and ended in a display of graphic images that could have been avoided. But this incident also shows that even journalists make errors. In the chaos of covering breaking news and reporting the truth, mistakes are made.

We here at The Statesman are not exempt from making errors. As students, our editors struggle just as much—if not more—in discerning what constitutes the public’s right to know and discerning what is private. Dealing with the publication of sensitive issues is harder as student journalists; though this may be a job, it is not one any of us have held for a while. We can only look to our professors, mentors and fellow journalists for guidance. We must step back and be reflective in extreme situations. Like any major publication, we fact check and try our best to be objective with situations that are hard to handle. We are human; we struggle with our feelings just like everybody else. However, we have an obligation to report the truth. No matter the situation, reporting the facts must always come first.

- The Editors

Q. So first, can you tell me a bit about some of the plans for USG now that you’re president?

A. Now that I’m President I hope to see more events on campus, more bigger, bolder events hosted by USG. I know that we have the end of the year concert, but, one aspiration that I have for USG is maybe to have semester concerts to get the community excited about, “well what’s gonna happen at the end of the semester?” I also want to incorporate more weekend life events to make. I know Stony Brook has the name of being a “suitcase school.” However, I want Stony Brook students to feel engaged on the weekend as well, through USG events and activities.

Q. What are some of the problems in USG that you think could be addressed this coming semester?

A.  Ultimately, communication. I feel like it’s very important to reach out to the students, why I think Stony Brook University as a whole needs to have its students more involved and, through effective communication, I think that we can get students to say, “Yes. This is what happened at Stony Brook. I was involved with this. I had a say in this.”

And also with regard to clubs and organizations, I’m a senator right now, and when I was going though budget hearings and a lot of clubs and organizations mentioned that they didn’t have certain emails and notifications that were pertinent for their budget deadline. I think that by increasing communication and, again, reaching out to clubs and organizations, making sure that they know what’s going on in USG that would be the best plan possible.

I feel that if we increase town hall meetings, to be multiple, more so than they are right now, then clubs and organizations will have the opportunity to come and speak to the executive council and say, “This is what we need. How can we go about making this plan come true?”

Ultimately, I would also like to send out more surveys to the campus, not so much the boring type of survey, “Oh, click this,” but make it more interactive and engaging for students to say, “Okay, yes, this is very interesting.” I know for the end of the year concert, not a lot of students knew who was coming to the campus and I, personally, as president, I would like to implement something where students can have a say in who they would like to see at the end of the year concert.

Q. Okay, so I know there has been talk about raising  the Student Activity Fee to $100. What do you think about that?

A.  There are pros and cons to everything. I think that if it is raised, then clubs and organizations will have more money to enhance their activities and their events on campus, but then again, it is coming out of students’ tuition. They’re paying more money for that.

I know that the margin for the Student Activity Fee right now was very close to the vote but it did end up becoming mandatory.  But I feel that it’s important for that to become mandatory, because without the Student Activity Fee, there’ll be no USG; there’ll be no clubs and organizations overall. And I think clubs and organizations are very very important on the campus because it makes Stony Brook University a diverse campus, and different from any other university because  we have such a large majority of clubs and organizations; we have over 300 and that’s what makes us different. It makes us stand out, and I think that’s very very important and it builds a closer community as well.

Q. So you are going into you junior year next year. Do you—know this is looking beyond—but do you think you would run for another term as president, or do you just think it’s gonna kind of be a one-year deal ?

A. Yes. I cannot say for sure right now.  My plans, I might be graduating a year early, so everything depends on that, and I mean I would love to run a second term, if possible, but then again I’m not sure where my school career might be taking me.

Q.What are some of your plans

specifically for student life and government at the school?

A. Well, for student life, ultimately, I want to have students engaged. And I want them to feel that this can be their second home and there’s something always to do on campus and to make USG known and raise awareness about it from a government perpective because a lot of students don’t know what USG stands for.  And it’s kind of saddening because we’re their voice for the representation. And I think that, ultimately, by having more events and activities hosted by USG, then we can ultimately raise awareness and say, “Yes, that happened at USG, and I’m a proud student of Stony Brook University.”

Q. And yes for the more government side of it, the senate, what kind of thing do you have?

A. Ultimately, I would like senators, during their office hours, to go out and actually talk to the students.

I know we’re required, as senators, four hours, two in-office hours doing business and then two senate-related, and I think that ultimately,  if somehow senators can go out and actually speak to the students and what they want to see on campus, then we can get more feedback and bring that to the senate table and say, “Yes, these are the students’ needs and concerns. Let’s put this toward action because this is what they want to see. This is their school, and we’re their voice.”

Q. Do you think you’ll continue with the other things you did on campus. I know you’re part of a lot of clubs and you sing at a lot of major events. So, can you do that, even as president?

A. Yes. I would love to continue singing because that’s one of my hobbies, and it’s good release for me, so with athletics, I would love to sing national anthems more.

But with other clubs and organizations, presidency for USG is my first priority and students’ voice, that’s ultimate right now,  other things I will remain in contact with, but again, as I said, presidency is number one, and that’s my major concern and priority right now.

Q. Is it true that you’re not gonna take compensation for being president?

A. Well, I know I posted that as my Facebook status and if I’m able to, not to, but I don’t know what the legalities are of it right know, but I would personally like to use and put that toward clubs and organizations.

Q. Do you think senators should be paid the amount they are now?

A. Well, senators were paid—we actually voted on this—$75 and then we decreased that to about $60 because, again, USG  is a service.

You know you shouldn’t run for it because you’re getting paid. You should be doing it because  you actually care about the community and students and their voices.

But overall I think that you do put a lot of hours, a lot of work into it and some students may say that, “oh well it’s a job because I’m putting so much work into it,” but then again, if you truly care about what you’re doing, then money shouldn’t matter in the end.

Q. Do you have anything else to add?

A. Well I’m very very happy to be Stony Brook University’s USG president and thank you for electing me.

Nearly every year in this space, there is an editorial imploring the student body to turn out in significant numbers to vote. But this year, there’s an urgency to that plea that cannot be ignored.

As many of you know, the Undergraduate Student Government is in charge of controlling the purse strings of the clubs and organizations on campus, leaving the people we elect in with a lot of influence of how money is distributed. It’s more than just the treasurer involved. Every member of USG brings in ideas of the changes he or she wishes to see, bringing their own personal issues to the table. Like any public office, the list of candidates has brought forth a huge range of issues that their campaigns that could change the direction USG has been going.

The elections this week brings up delicate issues of the scandals that have hit USG, the most recent one involving two former Vice Presidents. The Statesman has previously reported on the misappropriation of funds that happened during the fall 2011 semester that involved VP of Communications Farjad Fazli and VP of Clubs and Organizations Allen Abraham. Both came under fire for having their assistants on payroll, which violated USG bylaws for those offices and led to both resigning. After the payroll discrepancies, it’s surprising to see Abraham have the audacity to even think about being a treasurer.

The flip side is that Abraham has said he has learnt from his mistakes and that his experiences have taught him the lessons he needs. This is pure politics. Though we have no way to judge his credentials of managing finances, there is no reason the student body should put trust into someone who got caught for misappropriation of funds. Looking back prior to this scandal, Abraham actually sat on a budget committee as a senator, and experienced being the middle man between clubs and USG.

Sadly, this isn’t the first scandal that has hit USG, but situations like what Abraham found himself in reminds us that as the student body we must think about whom we vote for. One scandal doesn’t define a candidate, though unfortunately it can be scarring. It is crucial though to look into the past of a candidate whose prior scandal was related to the finances of USG. There are other candidates running who currently hold positions in the organization, so rather than blindly voting for a party and the nominees on their ballot, each candidate should be individualized. At the end, it’s your money, your social life and your activities that would be jeopardized. Elections have many gray areas, scandals being one. Ignoring the scandals would just be plain idiotic, but it doesn’t have to define an election. To those who complain about the work of USG, these are the issues to consider before voting for the same.

With USG’s main task to the student body is allocating money, it is hard to ignore the situation that the organization finds itself in every year. Last spring, then-Executive Vice President Alexander Dimitriyadi wrote a letter to editor that was printed in The Statesman about the condition of USG’s financial situation.

“Last spring, the USG Senate appropriated an unprecedented amount of funding towards student organizations: 57 percent, or over $1.5 million of our annual $2.8 million budget.  I quickly learned, however, that this new baseline for club funding did not come without consequence.  The USG’s operational budget, which includes services such as event programming and free one-on-one tutoring, were at risk of running out of funds mid-year without cutbacks.  In order to allow for improvement in these services, I condensed every USG operational budget line looking for funding that could be re-appropriated.”

He goes on his letter to talk about the delicate situation at hand and how he believes money should be allocated and the process by which that is decided. USG is always going to have to work within a budget, and with such a financial responsibility to the school and student body, you need to be 100 percent confident in the person you want deciding if your club is worth it.

Every two years, the Student Activity Fee’s mandatory status goes up for a vote, making this year’s election that much more vital to campus. Student life on this campus needs the Student Activity Fee. There are dozens of clubs and organizations on campus that benefit from the funds that come in from it, including The Statesman. Many complain about the lack of funding from USG, but without the student body voting to keep the Student Activity Fee mandatory this week, there could be no budgets at all. Currently, the fee is $94.25, which, compared to all the other fees, is certainly not too much to ask in order to fund the activities that we all take advantage of.

In order to fully appreciate our time on campus, we need the right people taking care of our budget. We need the right people advising the treasurer and various boards, and we need the right issues being presented during meetings. Elections are open throughout the week, leaving you with plenty of time to learn the issues each candidate wants to push forward. Our student fee builds campus involvement and a better community as a whole. There has never been a good enough reason to wait for SOLAR to load but this year,  voting in the USG elections can bring new change to Stony Brook University.

In just about all categories by which diversity is measured, Stony Brook University is a diverse community. People of all different races and creeds study here, something the school and its students and professors value. That’s why it doesn’t make sense that the administration rushed into the decision to not consider religious holidays when making the academic schedule for next year.
Stony Brook Administration has kept the discussion about the change quiet, and has put together a proposition that would drastically change the calendar. If the administration really believed that this calendar change would be a quick endeavor that was mistake number one.  The administration failed to consult x y and z, who in this case all were worth representing in the decision.
The debate was taken to the national stage after it was reported on in The Statesman, getting space on Fox News and the Washington Post. But while Rush Limbaugh and company can debate the constitutionality and legal aspects of it, what they say doesn’t really matter. It comes down to the people it directly effects: students and professors at Stony Brook University.
Recently, Stony Brook has been seeing an influx of change—from a new university logo, to new class times.  Those part of the Stony Brook community need to be included in discussions involving these sorts of changes.
We believe that while these changes aren’t going to profoundly affect the majority of the student body, there are those who will be.  Their concerns should have been heard before a decision was made.
The diversity of Stony Brook’s campus is something to be admired and respected.
To alienate any group in that community for the sake of haste isn’t fair, and it doesn’t make sense that those in charge failed to consult the many different people part of the Stony Brook community.