Minh’s Notes: “Red Cards for the soccer teamBlueprint?”

I have retracted these statements; I no longer endorse these assertions.

Today, the St. Xavier Blueprint, my school’s official school newspaper, distributed its first issue of the year, today during homeroom. I’ll sum it all up in one word for you: libellious. You see, there was this one article on the front page, right under the fold. It was titled Red cards for the soccer team: Pattern of misbehavior kept under wraps?, and it alleged that the school soccer team has lost its integrity. I talked to a few people, and I heard complaints of misquoting, exaggerating — tactics characteristic of yellow journalism. It’s not all wrong, however. Harrison Sand, a member of the X-Ray yearbook club, an archrival of the Blueprint, says that he had stayed in the same hotel as the soccer team, when some players apparently shot a coach with pellet guns. I heard some students complaining in the hallways of being misquoted by Matt Luby, the author of the article, although I cannot offer evidence for or against that claim.

This is an evident example of what I consider to be poor journalism on the part of the Blueprint. One reason may be because there is no healthy competition: the Blueprint is the official school newspaper, sanctioned and supported by the school, and distributed to all students, free of charge. This clearly stifles the possibility of an alternative newspaper, which would foster better journalism due to the competition. Right now, there is no competition. The newspaper is school endorsed, and each student at St. X subscribes to the newspaper by enrolling into that school.

I talked to Harrison Sand about the possibility of creating an alternative newspaper, possibly supported by the X-Ray, since they’re so opposed to the Blueprint. He said that they probably wouldn’t be interested in undertaking such a task. Anyhow, I’ll consider reviving the Magis. Great potential there, of course. ;^) Read on for the full text of the Blueprint article.

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