Why Ryan Mallett matters
The Traveler Editorial Board
Issue date: 3/9/09 Section: Opinion
After UA quarterback Ryan Mallett was arrested on a public intoxication charge early in the morning on Sunday, March 1, articles about the quarterback's indecorous behavior appeared the next day in The Morning News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Even USA Today reported the story.
But that Monday, at least one newspaper made no mention of Mallett.
We at The Arkansas Traveler opted to devote our space to in-depth coverage of the "Celebration of a Championship" weekend instead.
Occasionally, our motivations for covering a particular story at the expense of another one are a bit murky, but, in this case, our reasoning was clear.
We wanted to highlight what we saw as the long overdue, highly deserved recognition of a legendary UA basketball team - and, to do that, we had to devote the bulk of our resources to that story.
That meant, of course, we had no remaining resources at our disposal to devote to Mr. Mallett.
All last week, however, not only our friends and classmates, but even our parents questioned our decision.
Their questions made sense - and forced us to acknowledge that, despite our best intentions to remain neutral, we sometimes operate under the desire to focus on the positive.
In other words, contrary to popular belief, The Traveler is not "anti" anything - not anti-ASG, not anti-Greek, not anti-athlete.
If anything, we occasionally run the risk of functioning as a public relations pamphlet for the very organizations we supposedly oppose.
After all, we're students at the UA, too, and we're proud of the accomplishments of our school's student government, philanthropic organizations and athletic program. Heck, we're just proud of our school, in general.
We cut ourselves - and Mallett - some slack because we're as tired as our readers of stories that cast UA students in a negative light. But not covering anything (Ryan Mallett or otherwise) because we'd rather not highlight the negative is a mistake that undermines our most basic purpose as a newspaper.
Just as Adolph Ochs, the founding father of the modern New York Times, made it the goal of his paper "to give the news impartially, without fear or favor," so we make it the goal of ours to mirror the reality of life on this campus, neither idealized nor sensationalized. Today, we recommit to that.
We're sorry if, sometimes, readers don't like the reality they see when they read The Traveler, but if that's the case, maybe they should consider revising their own behavior (or encouraging their peers to revise theirs) - because we are going to do our jobs.
While we wish athletes wouldn't act drunk, that frat guys would never steal signs, that officials would never implement tobacco policies before they thought them through, that doesn't excuse us from covering them when they do.
Coach Bobby Petrino didn't let Mallet off the hook; the quarterback faces curfew and, potentially, community service for his offense.
From now on, we're not letting him - or anyone else who embarrasses the university - off the hook, either.
But that Monday, at least one newspaper made no mention of Mallett.
We at The Arkansas Traveler opted to devote our space to in-depth coverage of the "Celebration of a Championship" weekend instead.
Occasionally, our motivations for covering a particular story at the expense of another one are a bit murky, but, in this case, our reasoning was clear.
We wanted to highlight what we saw as the long overdue, highly deserved recognition of a legendary UA basketball team - and, to do that, we had to devote the bulk of our resources to that story.
That meant, of course, we had no remaining resources at our disposal to devote to Mr. Mallett.
All last week, however, not only our friends and classmates, but even our parents questioned our decision.
Their questions made sense - and forced us to acknowledge that, despite our best intentions to remain neutral, we sometimes operate under the desire to focus on the positive.
In other words, contrary to popular belief, The Traveler is not "anti" anything - not anti-ASG, not anti-Greek, not anti-athlete.
If anything, we occasionally run the risk of functioning as a public relations pamphlet for the very organizations we supposedly oppose.
After all, we're students at the UA, too, and we're proud of the accomplishments of our school's student government, philanthropic organizations and athletic program. Heck, we're just proud of our school, in general.
We cut ourselves - and Mallett - some slack because we're as tired as our readers of stories that cast UA students in a negative light. But not covering anything (Ryan Mallett or otherwise) because we'd rather not highlight the negative is a mistake that undermines our most basic purpose as a newspaper.
Just as Adolph Ochs, the founding father of the modern New York Times, made it the goal of his paper "to give the news impartially, without fear or favor," so we make it the goal of ours to mirror the reality of life on this campus, neither idealized nor sensationalized. Today, we recommit to that.
We're sorry if, sometimes, readers don't like the reality they see when they read The Traveler, but if that's the case, maybe they should consider revising their own behavior (or encouraging their peers to revise theirs) - because we are going to do our jobs.
While we wish athletes wouldn't act drunk, that frat guys would never steal signs, that officials would never implement tobacco policies before they thought them through, that doesn't excuse us from covering them when they do.
Coach Bobby Petrino didn't let Mallet off the hook; the quarterback faces curfew and, potentially, community service for his offense.
From now on, we're not letting him - or anyone else who embarrasses the university - off the hook, either.
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