One of the most important things about the information we get from a news article is where that information comes from. The Cavalier Daily reporters don’t always do a good job of explaining their sources and in many cases simply don’t use enough sources or the right kinds of sources to give readers a complete picture. I’ll use recently published news pieces to illustrate the kinds of problems I think The Cavalier Daily runs into in its news reporting.
Some articles don’t have enough sources. In an article about the Virginia General Assembly considering a bill that would alter how sexual assault allegations are handled on college campuses, the position of supporters of the bill is described without attribution. The position of opponents of the bill is described and then extensively explained by the only person to be quoted in the article. I agree with one commenter online that the article ends up reading like an opinion piece instead of a news article. It effectively presents one side of an issue as true because it is being reported as news.
Similarly, some articles have effective sources for some information and then fall off in other parts. For example, in an otherwise interesting (and really well-conceived) article comparing fraternity party rules at four other universities there is a discrepancy about the information the reader is given about those other schools. In two cases there are quotations from administrators at those schools responsible for fraternity rules while for the other two schools we’re offered nothing but a summary of rules without attribution. I was left wondering why there weren’t quotations in those spots and what someone from the school might have said about their rules. It’s a well-done article in parts but it doesn’t seem like something that was so time sensitive it needed to be published before getting some comments about the other two schools. I will, though, note the effective use of links in the lede of the article. I’d very much like to see more of this as a reader; it was simple to click over and refresh my memory of what the new rules at the University entail.
Then there are articles that either don’t seem to have appropriate sources or don’t have sources appropriately explained or described for the reader. In a piece on the rejection of gun control legislation in the Virginia State Senate the only sources are two University undergraduate students. The College Republicans Chairman and the University Democrats Financial Officer are quoted (with the same political platitudes we hear from, it seems, all political spokespersons). Why look to these students for information about the bills apart from their choice to engage in politics? With an absence of sources that have substantial information to offer, there isn’t much to learn from this article beyond the headline. In another article about legislation currently being considered in the Virginia State Senate the reporter included quotations from the sponsoring Senator and from the spokesperson for the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. The latter piece gave the reader a much clearer understanding of the landscape in which the legislation is being considered and because the sources are involved in it, better reason to think the information is good and accurate.
Sometimes the sources are good but need further explanation or description. In a report about resolutions for a constitutional convention all of the sources seem like good ones but two are lacking in description that would help the reader assess the information they offer. Robert Kelly is described as “General Counsel,” but we are not told of what and Batten Professor Jim Savage is described simply as “Batten Professor.” Some information about his areas of expertise makes all the difference in judging what he’s saying. It is important to remember that not all readers of The Cavalier Daily will know the Batten School is the School of Leadership and Public Policy and even if they do, it is not a given that all faculty there would make sense as a source in an article about a possible constitutional convention.
These issues don’t exist in all of the articles in The Cavalier Daily by any stretch but they come up repeatedly. There are many articles that are quite well done, for example, the piece on Virginia Commonwealth University dropping the SAT as an application requirement for many students makes excellent use of sources to offer the reader a range of information. This sort of reporting better serves readers. When sources are appropriate to the kind of information they offer and when those sources are effectively described readers can better assess the information reported.
Christopher Broom is the Public Editor for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at publiceditor@cavalierdaily.com or on Twitter at @CDpubliceditor.
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