OPINION: Holding authority accountable

Journalists aren’t always liked. It is our job to tell the truth, but the truth isn’t always easy to hear.

As the staff of The Argonaut, we value the role of local journalism in holding authority figures accountable. It is an honor to tell the stories of our fellow community members and provide answers through these trying times, and we take it seriously.

The Argonaut exists to provide experience for student journalists, but it also holds the University of Idaho accountable. It is our job to seek answers to the questions students, faculty, staff and community members are asking right now.

UI faculty, staff and students accomplish many great things, but unfortunately, we won’t be able to cover them all. We wouldn’t be doing our job if we only covered the good things. We share stories about what most impacts our communities, both the good and the bad.

Our staff members are dedicated to their craft, but we are students as much as we are journalists. We are your sorority sisters and fraternity brothers, your classmates, your teammates and your fellow students. We want to serve our community to the best of our ability, but we won’t always get it right.

The point of our newsroom is to provide a learning opportunity for our young writers, photographers, designers and editors so we can learn the ethics and expectations of journalism better than we could just sitting in a classroom.

Our coverage will not please everyone. No news outlet’s coverage can please everyone. But we want the information we provide to be fair to all parties involved. If you think we are misrepresenting you, if you think we have missed something—we want to know. Your feedback not only informs our current and future coverage, but helps shape our staff into journalists better prepared to enter the post-college world. All feedback, from tips or corrections to questions and concerns, can be sent to [email protected]. We want to make sure you’re heard.

It’s been a rough year, and the challenges we’ve faced aren’t going anywhere. No matter what curveballs this semester throws at us, The Argonaut will continue to provide the UI community with the best coverage we can.

-Editorial Board