Fact-checking lacking in Triangle opinion pieces
Ken Kaighan
Issue date: 4/8/05 Section: Ed-Op
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There was a time, not too long ago, on a college campus not too far away, when the factual accuracy of an editorial submission to the Triangle was verified before print.
If the piece was found to be in error, or if even a source was questionable, the author was notified and the piece was suspended until facts were presented to clear any misunderstandings. Today's Triangle staff has replaced logical conclusions and supporting facts with speculative theories and emotional appeals to lunacy. My, what a difference 1,095 days can make.
Why would a student-run, University paper continue to print factual inaccuracies without checking the sources? Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but a fact mentioned must be a fact supported, else it is just a theory or worse yet, a bold-faced lie. While Vivek Thuppil and other authors are certainly entitled to their opinions on matters, it is an atrocious betrayal of the readers' intellect to permit blatant ignorance to permeate this news print. I offer the following quotes from Vivek over the past year as several examples of his blindly anti-conservative, facts-be-damned agenda:
"...the insurgency is fueled by the occupation of Iraq by U.S. forces..." [Jan 30, 2005]
Al Zarqawi, a leader of active resistance movements and organizer of suicide attacks on US military and Iraqi civilians, made the following statement one week prior to Vivek's editorial; "We have declared an all-out war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology..." (1) According to a leader of just one of the many resistance and terrorist cells, the "insurgency" seems to be fueled by their direct defiance of freedom.
"[Bush let] 380 tons of high explosive material to get into the hands of terrorists in Iraq." [Oct 29, 2004]
Not 24 hours after Vivek's article was published, the U.S. military confirmed they had secured 250 tons of the ammunition from the Al-Qaqaa compound (2). I would offer Vivek the benefit of the doubt, since this official report was issued several days after he had written his editorial. However, a responsible journalist is supposed to verify facts and sources before publishing and since the facts contradict his editorial comment, one must preclude that Vivek had nothing better than speculation at print.
If the piece was found to be in error, or if even a source was questionable, the author was notified and the piece was suspended until facts were presented to clear any misunderstandings. Today's Triangle staff has replaced logical conclusions and supporting facts with speculative theories and emotional appeals to lunacy. My, what a difference 1,095 days can make.
Why would a student-run, University paper continue to print factual inaccuracies without checking the sources? Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but a fact mentioned must be a fact supported, else it is just a theory or worse yet, a bold-faced lie. While Vivek Thuppil and other authors are certainly entitled to their opinions on matters, it is an atrocious betrayal of the readers' intellect to permit blatant ignorance to permeate this news print. I offer the following quotes from Vivek over the past year as several examples of his blindly anti-conservative, facts-be-damned agenda:
"...the insurgency is fueled by the occupation of Iraq by U.S. forces..." [Jan 30, 2005]
Al Zarqawi, a leader of active resistance movements and organizer of suicide attacks on US military and Iraqi civilians, made the following statement one week prior to Vivek's editorial; "We have declared an all-out war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology..." (1) According to a leader of just one of the many resistance and terrorist cells, the "insurgency" seems to be fueled by their direct defiance of freedom.
"[Bush let] 380 tons of high explosive material to get into the hands of terrorists in Iraq." [Oct 29, 2004]
Not 24 hours after Vivek's article was published, the U.S. military confirmed they had secured 250 tons of the ammunition from the Al-Qaqaa compound (2). I would offer Vivek the benefit of the doubt, since this official report was issued several days after he had written his editorial. However, a responsible journalist is supposed to verify facts and sources before publishing and since the facts contradict his editorial comment, one must preclude that Vivek had nothing better than speculation at print.
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