Tuesday’s Harvard Crimson advertisement scandal, in which the university’s student newspaper ran an advertisement that speculated whether or not the Holocaust did in fact happen, generated a campus- and nationwide fury. The backlash was not aimed solely on the advertisement’s reprehensible content, but also at the lack of responsibility on behalf of the Crimson editors. While newspaper editors have always been expected to hold integrity as a quality above all else, a mistake like Harvard’s makes for an expense to the newspaper industry at the worst possible time for print journalism. This expense is one of public and student trust, and as college papers continue to sink in decline, the blow will be a tough one to afford.
The irony of the situation lies ‘- just as Crimson’s president Maxwell Child wrote in his official apology ‘- in the ‘logistics.’ The Holocaust, of course, stands out as one of the most despicable and regrettable recorded moments in human history. And Harvard stands out as one of the most elite universities in the world, admitting less than a tenth of its yearly applicants to its revered freshman class. And so when America’s supposed best and brightest allow a mindless mistake like this one to simply ‘fall through the cracks,’ as Child puts it, the rest of its college newspaper kin suffers as its standard-setters fumble.
It’s not easy to run a newspaper, and without a doubt the newsroom at one with a history of excellence that is under the utmost pressure to produce the most accurate, evenhanded and high-quality product possible. But the one thing that unites all forms of journalism ‘- highbrow and lowbrow, print and visual, daily and monthly ‘- is a commitment to fine editing. In this most crucial promise, The Harvard Crimson has failed its students and its history, and its editors need to be put into place. Daily Free Press editors refused the ad when it was proposed last semester, and for obvious reasons. If Crimson editors ‘- whether by foul or folly ‘- couldn’t manage to muster the same common sense and integrity to refuse the ad, it reshuffles the dynamic between itself and all similar college publications traditionally placed beneath it. For this reason, The Crimson deserves whatever forms of negative media ramifications it is bound to receive.
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