October 25, 2016
Scribe Staff
As one of the many media outlets that is expected to remain unbiased in whatever we report, media are being criticized for endorsing candidates in their editorials this election season.
The well-known publication USA Today endorsed a candidate for the first time since they started.
In the last two weeks, Palmer Ridge, a local high school 20 minutes North of UCCS, received a lot of back lash for endorsing Hillary Clinton as a student newspaper.
As the UCCS student newspaper, a nonpartisan media organization, it is our responsibility to provide unbiased facts that reflect only what the sources provide and not our own personal opinions.
Outside of our political clubs on campus, UCCS’ student body hasn’t brought an outspoken interest to the newspaper on who they really believe should be our next president.
We have received no responses to our political articles this semester, which is why we do not feel it is our obligation to endorse a candidate as a student newspaper or media.
This summer, when Donald Trump visited the campus as part of his campaign rally, over 100 professors expressed their disproval in his visit to our campus.
While everyone is entitled to their personal opinions this election, knowing that professors on campus feel one way or the other may hinder us from being outspoken on their candidate of our choice.
Whether that’s UCCS professors writing a letter to the chancellor opposing Trump’s visit to our campus or expressing personal beliefs to a class.
It would be against our code of ethics to endorse a candidate as a newspaper if we were to remain as unbiased as possible this election season.
It’s not necessarily wrong for a newspaper to endorse a candidate, but it exposes clear bias.
Endorsing one candidate does not represent the diverse opinions of our staff, either. We represent all facets of the political spectrum.
It would be unfair for the editorial board to endorse one candidate without considering how the rest of our staff feel.
Newspapers that endorse one candidate over the other show their bias toward one side of the political spectrum. This is something that news outlets should avoid.
How can readers trust that certain topics will be reported on without a bias when they know that the leadership at the newspaper feels one way over the other?
Endorsing a candidate alienates readers who feel differently than the editorial board. At The Scribe, we want to be inclusive and representative of all students, not single anyone out for their political beliefs.
This is important for us as students to find our footing when it comes to formulating our own opinions about political beliefs.
We are all learning, and part of that process is to present facts in a nonpartisan, unbiased manner to help us students think for ourselves.